


Take it back!

by CALLEN37



Category: NCIS
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-03
Updated: 2012-10-03
Packaged: 2017-11-15 13:51:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 24,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/528000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CALLEN37/pseuds/CALLEN37
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gibbs cheated on his wife years ago,  he hides  his secret from his junior agent. But when this past indiscretion comes back to haunt him will this wreck the team forever. Will Tim ever forgive him.  No slash Father/son fic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1

 

Prologue

1976 – Camp Lejeune.

Private Leroy Jethro Gibbs stood leaning against a tree writing a letter to his wife, telling her how training was going and how he had just been picked, for his first solo assignment. Of course, he could not tell her what it was, but he missed her and wanted her to know he would not be able to write to her for a few months. He placed the letter in an envelope and handed it to Gunnery Sergeant Roberts.

Roberts took the letter, "Don't worry private I'll make sure it gets posted." He promised.

"Now Private, a murder case from New York has entered our jurisdiction newly wed Privates who are living on base with their wives are being targeted by a serial killer, All the Privates are in our sniper training program and are top of their class, just like you are." Roberts told him.

Gibbs stood at ease and watched his Gunny. "Permission to speak sir."

Roberts nodded.

"My wife is still in Stillwater, she hasn't moved out here yet." Gibbs said.

"Which is why you are perfect for this assignment, A Detective McGee from New York is being assigned here and you will be going undercover as a newly married couple. It will be her job to capture the killer; you just have to be her back up."

"Sir?" Gibbs was confused. "Does she know how military families work if she's to go undercover, it may get blown if she says the wrong thing. Sir."

"Not to worry Private, she is the wife of a Naval Officer. She knows military protocol." Roberts headed to the door. "She should be arriving soon and then you will pick up your car and head to the bases married housing."

"Sir. Yes Sir." Gibbs said.

"And Gibbs, You're on your honeymoon, so act like it. You have a months leave." Roberts said and smiled as he herded the private out of the door.

Gibbs walked over to the truck parked near the barracks. A tall brown haired woman got out. "Detective." Gibbs said.

"Private Gibbs, I hope we can work well together, your platoon leader said your sniper skills would make you perfect for this job."

"Ma'am, Thank you Ma'am." Gibbs said.

"Please we have to be undercover for at least a month as husband and wife; I think you can call me Evie." The Detective said.

"Jethro." Gibbs said and smiled a bit at Evie's raised eyebrow.

* * *

They pulled up outside a modest two-bed house and Gibbs got out and opened Evie's door.

"Oh My! Jethro it's gorgeous." Evie gasped looking every inch the blushing bride.

Gibbs grabbed the bags and dropped them inside. Then scooping Evie up, he carried her over the threshold.

As soon as the door was shut, he put her down, "Too much?" He asked worried.

"Not at all Jethro," Evie smiled. "Just right I think I saw some curtains twitching.

"I'll take the bags upstairs; you want to pick a room?" He asked, "I'll take the other one." He offered.

"We should share. In case our neighbors slash serial killer goes snooping." Evie said and then added, "I'll behave myself Jethro." She smiled.

Gibbs glared but took the bags up to the master bedroom anyway.

This woman was already driving him mad.

* * *

A week later, he was ready to kill her!

He liked a certain order and she seemed hell bent on pushing every button he had. Shannon was not half as much trouble. He had found some woodworking tools and had disappeared a few nights to the shed, but she had followed him insisting they spend time together. He tried telling her that with his wife he usually did this so it would not look out of character for a husband to have time alone. She drank his bourbon, which really annoyed him, and worse than that, she drank coffee!

He since a young age had drunk tea. His mother had instilled the love of tea in him yet since coming here and leaving her the task of shopping she had refused to buy any saying, it was an awful drink.

Whenever he had to kiss her for appearances, she tasted of coffee and it nauseated him.

"Jet, maybe you should try drinking coffee too," She reasoned with him.

"But it's like tar!" He said, "Evie it's disgusting."

"I'm a Navy brat, my husband is Navy, my COFFEE is NAVY!" she insisted.

Therefore, he started drinking the coffee, and stopped sleeping so much.

They had met the neighbors and although there were a few he hoped were serial killers as yet no one had fit the bill.

* * *

"We have to throw a barbeque," Evie told him one morning.

"Why?" Gibbs grumbled pouring his first cup of coffee.

"Fourth of July weekend. I told the neighbors we'd host as the newest family in the neighborhood." She said. "It brings the entire suspect list here." She said.

"Fine, I'll do steaks you can do the rest," he said.

He was on edge as he missed Shannon and had planned to spend this weekend with her. He sat down and ran a hand down his face.

Evie brushed past him as she went upstairs and he tried to calm the attraction, annoyance… whatever it was he was feeling towards her. He knew whatever it was he did not want it. Nevertheless, she did smell good and God did he miss Shannon.

The party went ahead and he found he enjoyed it more than he had anticipated. Alcohol flowed freely and a few secrets were revealed, overall it was a good evening.

Evie was asleep on a lounge chair as Jethro let everyone out.

* * *

"Come on you, Bed." He scooped her up and carried her upstairs. Truth was he felt a little worse the wear as well, but he managed to get her to the bed without dropping her.

"Evie," He said quietly and went to lay her down.

As he did so her arms came up around his neck and she opened her eyes, "Jet." She said he looked down at her and before he knew what was happening he was kissing her.

"Evie, we shouldn't" Gibbs said stopping himself.

"Don't stop Jet, please, I need you." She breathed in his ear.

With that all thoughts of Shannon went out of the window and there was no one left on the planet but Evie and Jethro.

The next morning he woke up with his arms around her, he remembered what had happened that night and he felt sick.

He had just cheated on Shannon, He carefully pulled himself out from under Evie and walked into the bathroom shut the door and cried.

Evie felt just as bad when she woke up, "Jet." She said as he walked out of the bathroom, "I'm sorry."

He nodded, "Lets just not talk of it again." He said. She agreed with him, if this ever got out both their marriages would be over.

Later that week Evie got the break she needed and managed to apprehend the serial killer.

She and Jethro packed their stuff up and went their separate ways.

* * *

Jethro back to Shannon for a week before being sent back to camp. He fell into her arms and although she never found out what had happened over those few weeks she was surprised about the new changes in her husband. Such as a newfound taste for coffee like tar and the fact he was even fiercer in his love for her than he had been in the past.

Evie, back to New York, then to Washington to meet her husband. Shane McGee met his wife two months later and got a nasty shock. She was pregnant, It was obviously not his, but after a lot of talking and some reassurance from his mother penny that Evie needed to keep the child and this was, in some ways a blessing, he had reconciled with her and agreed to raise the child as his own.

Seven months later Timothy McGee was brought screaming into the world.

 


	2. 2

Tim McGee came home from school early and walked in the kitchen door.

"Hey mom!" He called.

"Hey Timmy, how was school?" Evie asked her eight-year-old son.

"Mrs. Dalton wants me to skip a grade." Timmy said smiling. "Can I please?" he asked.

Evie smiled sadly at her son, "Of course, but you know the rule." She said.

"I won't tell dad I promise." He said.

She hugged her son and made him a snack.

* * *

She missed the days of being a strong detective, but Shane would not allow her to go back to work after he had found out about her infidelity. He made her use her being pregnant as an excuse for her to quit and become a full time mom. Although they had never told Tim about his conception. Shane McGee had always been cold towards the boy and hated the fact that he was smart.

Moreover, Tim was smart. Really smart. If Tim's headmistress had her way Tim would be moving to junior high at eight he was to be moved up to the 6th grade. Evie had managed to hide his appetite for knowledge. He knew his son liked learning and had, for a while encouraged it, 'my son will join the Navy and be a credit to the McGee name.' That was until he found out Tim hated the water and got chronically seasick whenever he was in a boat.

Shane McGee did not look at the boy after that. He did everything expected of him as a father but every time he looked in those piercing blue eyes, he knew Tim was not his child and each time it ate away at him.

Evie and Shane fought more and more until she found out she was pregnant again. This time Shane knew the child was his and when Sarah was born, he was ecstatic. Sarah was his preferred child and he did not care who knew it. He took credit for Tim's achievements as his father but that was as far as his reach into his son's life was.

After Sarah's birth, Shane took a desk job in the Naval yard at Alameda California.

* * *

Tim tried everything to get event the smallest piece of praise from his father, but he had learned long ago it was never coming and he also learnt his mother was not allowed to give him any sort of comfort when his father was around. The only source of love he got freely was from his grandmother, who hated the term grandmother so he called her Penny.

Penny doted on her Grandsons achievements and to be spared from his father's wrath he took to going to her house after school to do his homework and kept all his books in a den he had built in her back garden.

However, being stubborn in nature, Tim still tried every day to win his fathers love and approval.

Today was no exception. It was Shane McGee's birthday. Evie had made him a cake and Admiral McGee, his wife and daughter had gone out for dinner. Tim had been sent to Penny's as usual, as Shane said, "I don't want the boy around to ruin my day."

Sarah at six months old had scribbled her father a picture that had delighted him no end and when he had got home, he had framed it and placed it on his desk.

Tim got home just before ten. Penny had dropped him off and he had quietly gone to his room and collected the handmade card he had been working on for a week. He had added glitter to the seascape the frigate he had drawn freehand was astounding in its detail. Penny had been overwhelmed at Tim's talent and assured him it was more than good enough to give to his father.

Tim knocked quietly on the door to his fathers study.

"Yes." Shane called.

Tim opened the door and stood inside waiting, Shane looked at him, "Report." He said.

Tim took a step towards his desk; he gave a small hopeful smile seeing his sister drawing on the desk already in a frame.

"Happy Birthday Sir," Tim said and handed Shane the card.

Shane opened the envelope and looked at the card. Then he ripped it up and threw it in the bin. "You can do better." He said flatly.

"Yes Sir, Thank you Sir." Tim said.

"Dismissed." Admiral McGee said and Tim fled the room.

He lay on his bed sobbing as his mother walked past his room.

"Timmy?" She said putting her hand on his shoulder.

"Momma. Why does he hate me?" Tim sobbed.

Evie's heart broke for her son. She could not tell him, it would ruin too many lives.

* * *

Tim grew up not, totally understanding why his father felt the way he did about him, but he had learnt where he stood.

Sarah was the apple of his parents' eye. They looked at her with praise and awe in everything she did, and to be honest, He looked at her in the same way. He was loyal to his little sister and as she grew, did everything he could to keep her safe.

As much as he loved Sarah, he felt jealous when his parents doted on her and looked at her with love, whereas his father looked at him with a well-disguised intolerance and his mother would look at him with guilt if he did something that Sarah grew to call his other personality side.

Tim was twenty-two now, Sarah was fourteen, and this was to be his last visit home.

Tim knocked three times on the door and Sarah answered, "Are you sure he's out?" Tim asked apprehensively.

"Mom took him to the market; she says you have two hours." Sarah told him.

She quickly grabbed the boxes from her room and helped him clear his room out.

Tim packed his boxes into the rental car he had hired for the occasion.

Sarah lifted the last box into the car as her mom and dad pulled up.

"What are you doing here?" Shane McGee yelled at Tim.

"I'm just collecting the last of my stuff." Tim said.

"Good, about time you got out of our hair!" He said.

Tim flinched; he had hoped they would at least be sorry to see him go.

"Tim," Evie said reaching out to her son.

Tim looked at her upset, "Don't worry mom, I'll be fine, I've been accepted at NCIS, I'm going to FLETC, I'll send Sarah my address."

Shane looked at his wife as Tim got in the car and drove off.

"NCIS, isn't that where HE works?" He asked.

"I don't know." Evie lied.

She knew... she had followed Jethro's career. She had cried when she had read about his wife and daughter and had thought about letting him know about his son. However, fear of her husband finding out was too great. She had kept clippings thought so if Tim ever found out about his father she could then tell him what she knew about him now.

 


	3. 3

Tim opened the door to his apartment, He was tired but Sarah had gotten there 3 hours early and was not in the mood to wait.

"Sarah its 5 a.m.?" Tim groaned letting her into his home.

"Yeah and you're graduating FLETC today!" She grinned bouncing around as only a 17 year old could.

She stopped and looked at her brother, "You look weird!" She laughed.

"Sarah…..SIT!" Tim said and sat on a chair. "I'm tired,"

Sarah looked her brother over; Gone was the shoulder length hair he had had growing up. He had also gotten rid of the poor excuse for a beard he had tried growing while he was at MIT. The biggest change however was his eyes, they were not blue anymore they were green.

"You don't look like you anymore." She said.

"That's the point!" Tim growled.

"So the Feds don't know?" She asked.

Tim laughed, "Yeah, I became a federal agent and then told them I founded a group of illegal hackers at college," His voice changed sarcasm dripping off every word, "Oh yeah Sir, when I was a teenager I hacked the pentagon you know that hacker, Phoenix, yes Sir, that's me!"

Sarah looked at her brother. He was right of course, he was always right. He had needed to make a fresh start and when the Feds got too close he had stopped hacking.

"I turned my life around Sarah; I won't let my anger for dad fuel my actions anymore. I'm going to be the best federal Agent I can be, maybe…eventually he'll be proud of me, hell at least in changing my eye color they look more like his now so he can't moan about that," Tim sighed.

Sarah hugged her brother, "I like them green Timmy, they suit you. Now go get in the shower and I'll make you breakfast."

Tim smiled and left the room.

* * *

Sarah looked after him wistfully, She was sad that on his graduation day he had not asked where his parents were, he had not even expected them to be here. Penny was getting over a virus so she could not make it but had sent him a gift. Sarah took it out of her bag and put it on the table.

Tim graduated FLETC and went for a meal with his sister holding the envelope that contained his first assignment.

"So, you going to open it." She asked,

Tim fingered the envelope and then opened it. A huge smile spread across his face, "I got Norfolk, and I got into NCIS."

Sarah hugged him, "That's one step closer to being a field agent."

"And it's Navy, Kinda…." Tim's shoulders slumped, "God I'm still trying to impress him. Do you think I'll ever not want to make him proud of me?"

"I don't know what Dad's problem is Tim, but Mom and I are proud of you." Sarah handed him a letter. "Mom snuck it in my bag while she was packing."

Tim read the letter and tears pricked his eyes, "She says she's proud of me for graduating and she loves me." He put the letter in his pocket. "I just wish he had let her come," He said looking around at all the other graduates celebrating with their families.

They walked back to Tim's apartment, It wasn't the best area of town but it was decent student housing and he was going to miss it. The next apartment he was moving to was a dump compared to this place, but it was all he could afford.

Sarah stayed the weekend and helped him move into his new place in Norfolk. She had teased him about it, "What if you hadn't got the assignment here?" she had laughed at the fact he had rented this just hoping he would be assigned to Norfolk.

She helped him install new locks on the door of the three-roomed apartment. It was a rough neighborhood. There was drug dealing in the stairwells, the neighbors ignored him and his apartment had a kitchenette a bathroom and a living room, he had had to leave a lot of his furniture behind. Some he gave to Sarah though. She had been accepted to Waverly and their parents had brought her a nice apartment in Silver Springs so she could be close to Penny, It meant a 3-hour commute to school but they had also brought her a nice car so she could make the trip in comfort.

"Tim, I wish you'd come and live with me," She begged for the third time.

"Not happening Sarah, This is mine I can afford it and I don't owe anyone." Tim said being stubborn again.

Sarah sighed, she loved her brother but sometimes he could be immovable especially when he thought he was right.

* * *

Tim settled quickly into life as a Federal Agent, He had agreed to use Sarah's address for mail purposes but still kept his apartment, although he had to use the bus every day as his finances were not up to buying a car yet.

Eventually and after a couple of exciting cases he had been moved to NCIS headquarters and been given a position on the MCRT.

He had talked to Director Sheppard and was looking forward to starting his first day under Agent Gibbs.

Knowing he had a three and a half hour commute to work he decided after writing his weekly letter to his mom he would turn in.

He sat and wrote about his new team, Agent Todd who was nice and helpful, Agent DiNozzo, who was a bit of a bully but not nasty at all kinda like what he would have wanted in a big brother had he, had one and his new boss. A man called Leroy Jethro Gibbs, tough but fair and he seemed a bit scary but he was looking forward to learning a lot from him.

Two days later, after reading this letter, Evie McGee fainted.

 


	4. 4

Tim sat behind his desk finishing the paperwork on their latest case.

Ziva and Tony had just got in from delivering the last of the evidence to lock up and Gibbs was in MTAC with Director Vance.

"You wanna come out for a drink Tim." Tony asked.

"Sure," Tim smiled. "You called Abby?" He asked knowing she would love to come.

Tony nodded, "Yep, what about you Ziva?"

Ziva looked up from the letter she was writing, "Yes Tony, I will come for a little while. It will be good for the team to wind up together."

"Wind Down, Ziva," Tony grinned.

The phone rang and Tim answered "Agent McGee." He said. The others looked over in case it was important.

Tim went white, "Th…..Thank you Sir." He said. He replaced the receiver.

"Tim?" Ziva walked over to him, "Are you ok?" she asked.

"Er….Yeah that was my dad, my mother died last week." He said.

Tony got up and grabbed his bag, "You should go, When's the funeral?" he asked.

"Yesterday." Tim said blankly.

"We got a case DiNozzo?" Gibbs said walking into the bullpen.

"No, Tim's mom died." Tony said, "Her funeral was yesterday."

"Why didn't ya go McGee?" Gibbs asked.

"His father just called him and told him about it." Ziva said.

Gibbs was shocked, he had thought that Tim's family were close, he had not heard Tim talk about them much. Nevertheless, what kind of man buried a kid's mom and doesn't tell him until after the funeral. He thought angrily.

* * *

He hadn't been in the best of moods; He had spent most of the morning in MTAC with Director Vance. SecNav was on the warpath.

An old group of Hackers that had plagued the Pentagon years ago was apparently rearing their ugly head again. Jervis had been part of an original team to track them down. He had made it as far as identifying that the group was MIT students but the group had disbanded before they could take them down. Their leader Phoenix had disappeared.

Now the group was making targeted strikes against military databases, a naval officer had been killed in an attack linked to this group, and Vance wanted results. However, there was no way he was going to make McGee work after that revelation. Therefore, he made a decision.

"Tony, Take McGee home. Stay with him." Gibbs added quietly. "We have a case but Ziva and I can take care of it for now." He assured his SFA.

"It's ok, I can go myself." Tim said

Tony looked at him, "You wanna disobey Gibbs?" he asked.

Tim gave a small smile and shook his head. He followed Tony to the Elevator as Gibbs filled Vance in on the situation.

Tim got in Tony's car and sat as they drove off.

After about five minutes, Tim remembered something. "Tony…you don't know where I live." He said.

"Sure I do, I got your address from HR." He told him.

"That's my sister's address, I live in Norfolk." He said. He gave Tony his real address and Tony's eyebrow shot up, "Bit of a rough neighborhood that?" he said.

"Yeah, but the rents great." Tim quipped. He turned his head and stared blindly out of the window.

* * *

They pulled up outside Tim's apartment block; Tony followed Tim as he walked past the elevator to the stairs.

"On a health kick?" Tony asked.

"Elevator doesn't work." Tim explained.

As they went up one of Tim's neighbors opened her door, Tim turned to her tiredly. "He's not business Shana, he's with me."

Shana, in nothing but a robe turned to Tim, "Never mind dear, there's always more work for me to do. Oh Timmy, You ok for money still, I have more clients asking after you if you need to work."

Tim shook his head "I'm fine Hun," He gave a weak smile and walked on.

Tony followed in shocked silence.

Tim got to his front door and opened the four locks to get in, "Ya know if I had known it would take a prostitute to make you speechless I'd have introduced you two years ago."

"Tim, I…." Tony stammered. "But your books I thought you were making plenty of money."

"I'm helping put Sarah through college, I make the rent…sometimes get enough for food, and now I'm not sending money home to mom, I'll have a bit more."

"So, not a diet?" Tony said indicating his weight loss.

Tim sat Tony on the bed in the main room. "Tony you'll have to promise me you won't say anything." He asked earnestly.

"But Tim, we can help."

"I don't need help. It's ok. Honest." Tim reiterated. He gave Tony a beer and clicked on the answer machine.

"Hey it's Tim, leave a message….beep." Tim's recorded voice came over the speaker.

"She's dead, your not home so I supposed I'll have to ring you at work, I don't have to pretend now. You're NOT my son, don't contact my family anymore. She was your only link to us. Now the Whore is dead and as far as I'm concerned so are you." Shane McGee's drunken voice filled the room as Tim slumped down the wall in shock.

Tony helped him up and onto the bed.

Tim sat there staring into space, tears running down his face.

"Oh Tim," Tony said handing him a drink.

Tim picked up his cell phone and called Sarah,

"Sarah McGee." She said.

"Did…Did you know?" Tim asked.

Sarah's voice dropped to a whisper "Tim, No…I never knew. Dad's gone postal, he won't let me see you anymore. He…" The line went quiet as Shane McGee grabbed the phone from his daughters' hand.

"You stay away from my daughter," He yelled.

"Dad, she's my sister." Tim begged.

"I'm NOT your father; you're a poor excuse for a son, you've been working in the same building as that man for seven years and he's never told you he's your father, he doesn't want ya neither." McGee yelled drunkenly and the phone went dead.

* * *

Tim stared at the phone in his hand; this was all too much to assimilate. He curled into a ball and sobbed himself to sleep.

Tony sat in the chair and watched his friend, the person he thought of as a little brother break and it hurt him he couldn't help. As Tim finally fell asleep, Tony picked up the phone and rang Gibbs.

He filled him in on everything. Pausing occasionally so the information could be dealt with by the man on the other end.

"Let him sleep Tony, If your both up to it come in later tomorrow, I need Tim in, we need his help on this case." Gibbs admitted.

Tony closed the phone and sat back watching Tim sleep.

"I got ya six Tim," he said to himself as his eyes closed.

 


	5. 5

Tony woke up to the sound of Tim retching in the bathroom. He heard water run then shudder as the supply ran out.

Tim walked out of the bathroom and grabbed a bottle of water from under the sink to finish cleaning his teeth with. He had forgotton about Tony being there and he watched the younger man do this with all the ease of someone who did this a lot.

He put the bottle back and opened the cupboards; there was coffee but not much else. He made a pot and found a couple of biscuits. He sniffed them and taste tested with his tongue. Shuddered and chucked them in the bin.

He poured himself a coffee, black with nothing in it, took a big swig, and turned around.

"Tony!" He yelped seeing him sitting in the chair.

"Got any spare coffee?" Tony asked. Tim nodded and made him a cup. Tony took a sip and made a face.

"Yuk! This is like that tar Gibbs drinks." He said.

"My mom taught me to make it. Its navy coffee, she used to say she was navy, her family was navy and her coffee was navy." Tim said reminiscing.

"What was she like, your mom?" Tony asked

"She was beautiful, she used to be a cop, before I was born." Tim told him, "She was always sad though as I grew up as if she had lost something, I think she missed giving up the job to raise me. Then she had Sarah, Da…Shane was pleased when she was born, obviously because she was his first born." He laughed humorlessly "That explains a lot really." He said more to himself than Tony.

He shook his head as if clearing away bad memories. "Come on Tony, you going to give me a lift to work?" he asked.

"Via the Diner I need breakfast and a decent coffee." Tony smiled determined to make sure his probie ate a proper breakfast.

* * *

Gibbs put his coffee cup on his desk and sorted through his mail, there were the usual bills, requests for information and one handwritten letter.

He picked it up carefully, after the incident with the plague letter, they had been extra critical of any handwritten post. He carefully opened the letter and started reading.

Vance stood on the balcony watching over his agents. He like watching, as they started their day. It was the quiet before the storm. However, this morning something caught his eye.

Gibbs was reading a letter and he went pale and sat heavily in his chair. Vance spotted and imperceptible shakes in his hand as he ran it heavily across his face and continued reading the letter.

He hoped this was not something that would greatly affect his MCRT.

Gibbs stood up and walked towards autopsy.

* * *

Ducky had just entered Autopsy for the morning and had hung up his coat. Jimmy was giving the room a quick clean ready to start the day as Gibbs strode in.

"Jethro, we don't have any clients as yet." Ducky smiled at his friend.

Gibbs turned to Jimmy, "OUT NOW!" he growled and Jimmy practically ran for the door.

"Jethro! What on earth has gotten into you," Ducky admonished.

Gibbs sat down and held out the letter he had received.

"Read." Was all he could say.

Ducky poured Gibbs a drink as he could see whatever this was, he was in shock.

He took the letter from Gibbs' hand and sat down to read. After a few minutes, he looked up at Gibbs. "Oh my Jethro, what are you going to do?" he asked.

Gibbs let out a sigh, "Well I thought I'd come see you Duck, I can't say anything to him, he doesn't know."

"He is your son Jethro," Ducky said gently. "You need to talk to him."

"Duck his mother just died, I can't hit him with this on top. I know he does not get on with his dad, but Shane is his father. I cannot replace him. Besides….I…don't..." Gibbs trailed off.

Ducky stood up and looked at Gibbs, "You don't what?" he asked, "You don't want to be his father?"

"No Duck…I don't want to be reminded of how I betrayed Shannon," Gibbs said.

"Is that the boy's fault?" Duck prodded.

"No." Gibbs said, "I think I just need time to sort this out in my head." He stood and started to leave.

"Jethro." Ducky's voice made him stop. "Whatever you do, don't treat the poor boy differently."

"Thanks Duck." Gibbs said and walked out.

Ducky sat at his desk. "Oh dear." He said shaking his head, this was not going to end well.

* * *

By the time, he had returned to the bullpen, both Tony and Tim had arrived at work. He found himself stopping and he stared at Tim.

"Morning Boss," Tim said looking up.

"How you feeling Tim," Gibbs asked.

"Better thanks." Tim replied.

"You don't need to be here you know, if you need a few more days." Gibbs offered hoping Tim would take him up on it. Not just for Tim but because he could use the space to get his head around the news he had received as well.

"It's ok Boss, I haven't talked to my mom in years, and there really isn't anything I can do. Honestly I'd rather keep working." Tony picked up on Tim's unvoiced, 'I need the money,' as he walked back into the bullpen carrying coffee for everyone.

"Coffee boss." Tony handed Gibbs a Styrofoam cup full of coffee and Gibbs sat at his desk and took a sip.

"Tar, probie." Tony handed Tim his coffee.

"Its navy coffee Tony," Both Gibbs and Tim said at the same time absently.

Tony looked up surprised. However, Gibbs was looking at reports and Tim was typing on the computer.

* * *

As Ziva arrived, Gibbs was ready to fill them in on their current case.

"Right, we picked up a case last night." Gibbs told them and they looked up.

"SecNav is on the hunt for a group who hacked the pentagon a few years ago, He believes they are responsible for the death of a Navy Lieutenant who was investigating their activities." He said.

"Tim, I need your help on this." Gibbs said.

"OK Boss, but there are hundreds of Hacktivists out there groups and individuals. It may be impossible to find them." He warned.

"SecNav believes it was a group he was chasing years ago, the group was based at MIT called Phoenix Fire. The leader was called Phoenix." Gibbs said.

Tim choked on his coffee. Prompting the others to look at him. "Sorry Boss." He said trying to calm himself down. He got up and walked towards the bathroom.

Tim shut himself away in a stall and realized he was shaking. He was hunting himself! He knew that Phoenix was not behind the death of the lieutenant but he could not prove it without outing himself as Phoenix.

"Oh God!" He moaned and put his head in his hands.

"Tim, you ok?" Gibbs asked having followed him into the bathroom.

"Er, yes boss, sorry boss." Tim floundered leaving the stall and running right into Gibbs.

"If you need space, I can get one of the Geeks from the basement up here to fill in." Gibbs offered.

"Yes, Sorry Boss I think maybe it was too soon." Tim said grateful for the lifeline.

Gibbs nodded, "You need a ride home?" He asked.

"NO!...Sorry its ok Boss, There's a shuttle bus to Silver Springs I can catch." Tim said.

"A bit inconvenient though seeing as ya live in Norfolk." Gibbs said.

Chastened Tim looked at the floor as Gibbs steered him back to his desk. "I'm taking Tim home. Tony can you call Vance, Tim's off for the week."

"On it." Tony said as Ducky walked into the bullpen.

"Timothy, if you need anything, even to talk just call me." Ducky said. "Jethro maybe YOU should use the time to talk to Tim." He suggested although the parting glare he received from Gibbs made Ducky fairly sure, it was not going to happen.

 


	6. 6

Sitting in the car Gibbs felt uncomfortable, Tim told Gibbs his real address and they headed in that direction. Both men had their head too full to talk to each other.

Tim was planning on how he could find out who was online pretending to be him, figuring out how he could use a back door he had created to get into the NCIS system and use their computing power to take this guy out and then erase any trail they had of Phoenix.

Gibbs was figuring out how to tell Tim he was his father. If it would help him, and would Tim welcome him in his life in that capacity? The letter in his pocket weighed him down.

They arrived at Tim's apartment and even though Tony had told Gibbs, what sort of place Tim was living in, it was a shock.

Luckily, Shana was not at her door as they went up, from the noises coming from her apartment she was busy working. Tim stopped at her door, "Wait a minute," he said, taking out a key unlocking her door and walking into the hallway, he reached under the table and putting the 'john's' wallet back into his coat. He left ten dollars in Shana's jar.

Gibbs looked at him curious.

"I help out," he said. He opened a door next to the hallway and called quietly "Tracey honey?" He took a sandwich out of his bag and handed it to the little girl who ran out. "Thank you uncle Timmy." She whispered, not wanting to bother her mother. She hugged him and went back into her room.

Tim quietly closed the door and left.

"Should we call child services?" Gibbs asked concerned for the little girl.

"No!" Tim said affronted, "Shana's a good mom; she's just trying to provide for her child. She loves Tracey." He defended them, "Not everyone has money Gibbs."

"Sorry Tim," Gibbs said "So you help them?" He asked.

"I'm the only one in the building with a steady paycheck." Tim said, "I can help so I do."

"I thought you had royalties from your book," Gibbs asked thinking Tim could afford better than this.

"I was helping mom put Sarah through college." Tim said. "And I had some bills to pay." Tim said. OK, so being blackmailed by a former member of his Hacking group wasn't a bill but he had paid the guy ever since he had gone to FLETC and so far it hadn't come back to haunt him, the last twenty thousand dollars had gone to him and he'd been scraping by on his paycheck ever since.

* * *

Tim unlocked his door and let Gibbs in.

Gibbs was shocked but managed not to let it show. He was surprised by how small the apartment was, but also by the amount of computer equipment in various states of repair he had spread over a table.

"I do computer repairs," Tim explained.

"Coffee?" Tim offered. Gibbs nodded gratefully. Trying not to be nosey, he looked over Tim's shoulder and noticed how empty the cupboards were.

He felt a tug on his gut, he wanted more than anything to pick his son up and take him away from this place. Placing Gibbs' coffee on a free space on the table Tim accidently knocked his answer machine and it started playing the message from last night.

Tim scrambled over a crate of wires trying to reach the machine to switch it off. He hit the button but looked stricken at Gibbs, "God, Boss. I'm sorry, you shouldn't have heard it."

Tim looked at Gibbs' face, he looked mad.

Tim swallowed, suddenly scared. He took a swig of his own coffee to calm his nerves.

Watching the conflicting emotions on his son's face. Gibbs took a calming breath.

"How are you holding up Tim? What your father did to you was uncalled for." He said.

Tim laughed a hollow laugh, "Yeah but not unexpected, and apparently he's not my father, apparently that honor goes to some other son of a bitch!"

Gibbs flinched. This was not going so good.

"You heard the message; I'm not a McGee, Dunno who I am." Tim started crying as the emotions engulfed him again.

"Tim, just because McGee isn't your father, it doesn't mean your any less you than you were before you found this out." He reasoned.

"You're right," Tim gave that empty laugh again, "Instead of being the son of a bastard I'm the bastard son of a guy who hated me so much he couldn't even stay with my mother. He must have really hated us."

Tim reached under the kitchen cupboard, pulled out a bottle of bourbon, and poured some in his coffee.

Gibbs sat there, one part of him wanted to stop Tim and tell him he was his father, the other half had just heard unedited what Tim felt about the man who fathered him. He was worried Tim would hate him.

"You get some sleep Tim, I'll come by in the morning and see how your doing." He told him and left.

* * *

He sat in his car and put his head in his hands. "YOU RAN AWAY!" he chastised himself.

He picked up his phone and hit speed dial.

"Ducky, I tried…..He hates me," Gibbs said.

"You told him?" Ducky asked him.

"No, he went on and on about how his father was an asshole who didn't care about his kid! I couldn't tell him it was me."

"Jethro, your boy needs you. Go back in there and talk to him." Ducky said.

"He's resting, I will go back tomorrow, I'm on my way back we still have this hacker to catch." Gibbs said. He closed the phone and hit the accelerator. Not seeing McGee watching him from the window.

* * *

Tim watched his Boss sit in his car, obviously upset.

"Great he thinks you're useless." Tim started talking aloud to himself. He ditched the coffee, grabbed the bourbon, and sat at his computer.

"OK it's time for the Phoenix to stay dead." He started typing code into his computer.

Within half an hour, he had most of his leads. He started hacking into NCIS to use their computing power to find out who was impersonating him and he needed to wipe all traces of Phoenix from their computer systems.

Tony looked up as Gibbs walked into the bullpen.

"Whaddya got?" He asked.

Russ from cybercrimes looked up from behind Tim's desk. "Er Sir, Someone's hacking our systems now, from the footprint he's leaving it looks like the Phoenix."

Gibbs walked up to the man.

"Can you trace it back to the source?"

"I'll try." Russ said. He typed furiously on the keyboard. "Damn he's good."

Russ concentrated on the computer, "No...No...NO!" He grumbled getting increasingly frustrated as the hacker covered his tracks.

"Boss, Maybe Tim would have more luck." Tony suggested and then clammed up as he received glares from both Russ and Gibbs.

"I can do this Gibbs, It's just…..this guy is really good!" Russ explained. "This is definitely Phoenix, I wasn't sure about the other Hack, but this is the real deal." Russ stopped and looked up. "Gibbs this is strange, He's hiding details of the real Phoenix but showing up obvious clues to the fake one,"

"Fake or not can you find him!" Gibbs growled.

"He's in D.C." Russ said still typing furiously "GOT HIM!" he said and wrote an address off on a piece of paper and handed it to Gibbs.

 


	7. 7

Gibbs looked at the piece of paper, stunned.

Then to everyone's surprise, he put it in his pocket.

"Boss?" Tony said with his hand halfway to his bag.

"Tony I want you and Ziva to find out everything you can on this Phoenix, background, and description everything!" He growled.

"On it." Tony said and both he and Ziva went to work.

"Russ, Keep a note of everything Phoenix does. I want full details when I get back." Gibbs ordered.

He grabbed his Sig out of the drawer and stormed off to the elevator.

He got into his car and headed out of the navy yard.

* * *

Tim was getting more wasted at the time went on, he was still sober enough to get the information he needed from the NCIS database, but he realized someone had spotted him.

"Shit!" He swore and started to cover his tracks, he left obvious clues where the Fake Phoenix had been and tried erasing where he had been in the past.

He had hoped that by taking the day off he would have had more time to clear up this mess.

He reached over and knocked the bottle over onto his computer just as it beeped to let him know he was being tracked. Sparks flew as he tried mopping up the alcohol he lost his temper and roughly grabbed the laptop off the table and dumped it in a bucket of dry rice he kept for drying out his hardware.

Unfortunately, this meant he missed the computer beep.

Had he been thinking straight he would have never missed it.

* * *

"I got something." Tony said and Ziva's head shot up. "It's an old report a description of Phoenix." He read. "Late Teens'- early twenties. Long brown/blonde hair. Scrawny most distinguishing features thin scar on face and piercing blue eyes."

Ziva looked to see if there was a picture but short of a sketch, there was none.

"This is from someone who actually saw Phoenix?" Ziva asked.

"Yes, it was given to…." Tony looked for the name. "Clayton Jarvis."

"The, Clayton Jarvis? "Ziva asked "SecNav?"

"Yeah apparently he was head of the FBI's Computer Analysis and Response Team back in the day; his main focus was catching Phoenix Fire after they hacked the Pentagon. They caught one guy who gave Jarvis the description but no one knew the kids real name so he never got caught." Tony told her.

"I'll bet this Phoenix guy could have been Tim's hero." Ziva laughed.

"Maybe that was why he rushed out of here." Tony said, although he thought it was more likely that the events of the past few days in Tim's life were really the cause for the junior agents' absence.

* * *

Gibbs' car screeched to a halt outside Tim's apartment block.

He jumped out and ran up the stairs to his door.

Banging loudly practically knocked the door down.

"WHAT!" Tim yelled from behind the door. The anger on his face changed as he opened the door and realized who was on the other side of it.

"B…Boss?"

"What the hell are you up to Tim?" Gibbs growled as he pushed his was into the apartment.

"Russ Brown, found you on the computer. Are you working for this Phoenix group? Were you a part of it?" He yelled at him.

Tim shook his head and started to shake.

"Goddamn it Tim! I can't help you if you don't talk to me." Gibbs softened his tone. "Tim, you need to tell me what you know so I can help you."

"I'm not working for the Phoenix group." Tim said thinking 'Rule 7 is very useful!'

"You need to come in. We need to sort this out before you are implicated in this." Gibbs said concerned. "Are you sober?" he said smelling alcohol on Tim's breath.

"If you mean can I drive, no." Tim giggled, "I don't have a car anyway."

Gibbs raised an eyebrow at the giggle, "Yeah, you CAN'T drive in that state. Come on. I'm bringing you in."

Not thinking Tim nearly held out his wrists. However, he quickly covered the movement up and grabbed his bag instead.

Gibbs looked at the computer in the bucket of rice, "What happened to that?" He asked.

"It got drunk!" Tim giggled.

Gibbs grabbed it, if anyone decided to search Tim's apartment he did not want the laptop around. He wanted to believe that Tim had nothing to do with this. Nevertheless, Russ had come up with Tim's address and being honest with himself, he had to admit, Tim could do it.

"Come on Elf lord." He said pulling Tim out of the apartment.

Halfway down the stairs his phone rang.

"Gibbs." He said.

It was Tony he filled him in on what they had found out about Jarvis and Phoenix's description. Gibbs listened and then hung up.

He looked over at Tim.

He saw the scar on Tim's face and wondered for a brief second if he was Phoenix, but then he saw Tim's green eyes and shook his head.

He breathed a sigh of relief and got in his car.

* * *

Russ looked over at Tony, "I have a picture." He said. Both Tony and Ziva stood up and walked to the plasma.

"It's very grainy but it is the only photo the FBI have of Phoenix." He pulled it up and they looked at it.

Tony's mouth dropped. "Is that?"

"Tim!" Ziva exclaimed.

"What?" Tim said following Gibbs around the corner to the bullpen.

He halted and looked at the picture of himself on the screen. "Shit!" he exclaimed.

"Is that you?" Gibbs asked.

"I…..I can explain?" Tim said his statement sounding more like a question as he tried to think of a way out of his predicament.

Gibbs whirled on him. "You told me you were not working for the Phoenix group!" He said.

"I'm NOT Boss!" Tim said. "Phoenix didn't do this!"

"Don't protect him!" Gibbs growled, "The guy is a criminal, he needs to be arrested."

"Fine!" Tim snapped grabbing his laptop and slamming it onto Gibbs' desk. "Put that in evidence. And you'll need these." He slammed his gun and badge on the desk.

The others stood there shocked.

"So," Tim said glaring at Gibbs the drink fueling his anger, "You wanna slap the cuffs on me or shall I do it myself."

"Tim, calm down, I know you're not thinking clearly. We just need his name, you won't be arrested for protecting your friend, just tell us the name of Phoenix,"

Tim looked at his co-workers and said "Timothy McGee."

 


	8. 8

Tony laughed, "Tim, you're not Phoenix,"

"You're working on the '80's description?" Tim asked getting madder by the second the alcohol fuelling his bravado. "Long brown/blonde hair – I cut it, scrawny – I grew up Tony. Scar on my face – still there." He said pointing.

"Blue eyes Tim. You have green. Stop covering for your friend." Tony snapped.

Tim reached up, took out his contact lenses, and looked at them.

His eyes were a brilliant blue.

Gibbs looked stunned, he could see that Tim had his eyes and was surprised no one else could see it.

"Contact lenses Tony, can't see without them," He said and stepped back. Lost his footing and fell on his butt.

He just sat there and giggled.

"How much have you had to drink?" Gibbs asked.

"Just two bottles, boss." Tim said

"Of beer?" Ziva asked him.

"Bourbon." Tim slurred and leant back against Gibbs' desk.

"Come on." Gibbs said and lifted Tim up. "We need to sober you up."

"Boss, what about Tim being Phoenix," Tony said.

Gibbs glared at him, "No one questions him, until Ducky has checked him out and he is sober. Understood!" he growled.

Both Ziva and Tony nodded and watched as Gibbs guided Tim to the elevator. "Come on Tim, we're going to see Ducky."

"Am I dead?" Tim asked.

Gibbs smiled and put a steadying arm around Tim's shoulders. "Not yet, you may feel like it tomorrow though."

Ducky looked up from his paperwork as Gibbs and Tim entered autopsy.

Tim climbed onto one of the empty tables and lay down.

"Hey Ducky, I think I'm dead." Tim said.

Ducky looked at Gibbs, "Jethro?" He asked,

"Two bottles of Bourbon and a huge confession, apparently Tim is the guy we are after."

"Oh?" Ducky said shocked, "Let's have a look at you Timothy." He said and helped Tim to sit.

"Oh my Jethro?" He said as he looked into Tim's eyes without the contacts.

"Yeah I see it Duck," Gibbs said, "Can you give him something to help with the hangover."

"I have some painkillers he will be able to take in the morning; I assume you plan to have someone question him over this Phoenix thing." Ducky said

"In the morning," Gibbs said vaguely, "I'll take him back to mine tonight and then bring him back after he's sobered up."

* * *

The doors to Autopsy opened and Abby ran in, "Oh my God, Gibbs is it true, you're going to arrest my Timmy, he's not Phoenix, Gibbs. He can't be!"

"Hey Abby, you're pretty!" Tim smiled. She stopped and looked at him.

"Bourbon! Tim! You know you can't hold your liquor, why were you drinking?" she said turning on him.

"Mom died Abby; my dad's not my dad and hates me. An' I'm a wanted Hacker, my life sucks Abbs." Tim slurred.

Abby went to hug Tim but he pushed her away, "No Abby, I don't deserve it." He tried to get up and stumbled.

"Take him home Jethro and bring him back to me in the morning." Ducky said.

Gibbs picked Tim up, "Abbs can you tell the others to go home. We'll pick this up again in the morning." He told her.

Once they had made it back to Gibbs' house and he had got Tim settled into the guest room, Gibbs made himself a coffee and found himself leaning against the doorframe watching his son sleep.

His hand slid into his pants pocket, touching the letter that was inside.

He sighed, "I'm sorry son." He said quietly.

Tim stirred moaning in his sleep.

Gibbs walked across the room and stroked his forehead. "It's ok, just sleep."

Tim turned over and slept.

Gibbs went downstairs and sat on the couch. He pulled the letter out and reread it.

"Evie, why didn't you tell me?" He said looking towards the heavens.

He lay back and closed his eyes, tomorrow was going to be a tough day.

* * *

Tim woke early his head pounding.

He reached over and grabbed the glass of water and the painkillers that were sitting on the side.

He groaned and sat up.

He looked around the unfamiliar room and realized he had no idea where he was. He had vague memories of going to work and Gibbs coming to his house. Then he remembered trying to wipe all traces of Phoenix.

He quickly sat up. "Oh God!" He groaned as he remembered going into work with Gibbs and admitting to being Phoenix. He realized he had no way out and he had to run.

Carefully putting his shoes on he headed down the stairs, he still had no idea where he was but he figured he could slip away before anyone found him.

He would miss his job but he would not go to prison for something he did not do and he did not kill that lieutenant.

He slowly crept towards the door, "Where you going Tim?" Gibbs said walking in with two cups of coffee. "Here."

"Boss…..I…." Tim stammered.

"Not gonna talk about it here. Just one thing I need to know, did you kill the lieutenant or have anything to do with the people who did?"

"No Boss, I haven't been Phoenix since MIT, I've only hacked for you since I joined NCIS." He said.

"Then we have to get you out of this mess." Gibbs said, "We have to do this for the record. But I promise we will get through this Tim."

Tim looked at Gibbs confused. He had expected his Boss to shun him, or at worst arrest him and fire him, but help him. That was totally out of character.

He took the coffee and sipped it gratefully.

* * *

Vance and Clayton Jarvis greeted Gibbs and Tim as they walked into the bullpen.

"Agent Gibbs, Agent McGee." Vance said.

"Director." Gibbs replied, warily.

"Why is Agent McGee walking around unescorted?" Jarvis asked.

"I don't think he is the guy you're looking for." Gibbs said, looking over as he saw Abby and Ducky coming out of the elevator.

"Its ok Boss, I'll take what's coming to me," Tim said not wanting to cause anyone any more trouble.

"NO! Tim you will not go to jail for this." Gibbs snapped. "I'll interview him, Tony and Ziva will find evidence to prove him innocent."

"You can't interview him, Jethro; it's a breech of protocol." Ducky said

Tim looked at the two friends standing toe to toe the air bristling between them.

Vance turned to Gibbs, "Why would it be a breech of protocol."

"It wouldn't," Gibbs growled.

"He's my Boss Ducky, he just wants what's best for the team," Tim said

"You need to arrest him," Jarvis said annoyed that he was this close to Phoenix but he could not get him.

"Agent McGee you're coming with me," Jarvis said and grabbed onto his arm.

Tim winced as Jarvis grabbed him and tried to pull away. "Let go!" Tim yelled.

Gibbs stepped in front of Clayton and pushed him, "GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY SON!" He yelled and the bullpen became silent.

Tim backed off and looked at Gibbs in horror.

"No! Not you!" He shook his head as the others looked in shock.

"You want to explain Gibbs?" Vance asked.

"Not here. Leon can I have a few minutes." Gibbs pleaded looking at Tim who was sat in Tony's chair staring at Gibbs in shock.

"Tim, please can we talk." Gibbs asked.

 


	9. 9

Gibbs followed Tim into a conference room and stepped back as Tim rounded on him.

"How long have you known?" He snarled.

"I swear I didn't know until the other day after Tony took you home. I got a letter in the mail from your mom." He pulled the letter out and handed it to Tim.

Tim took the letter and shakily opened it, He recognized his mom's handwriting his fingers traced the writing on the envelope but he could not bring himself to open it.

"So when I was ranting about how my father wasn't my father and how some other bastard was my father…..you knew and you didn't say then." The hurt was evident in his voice.

"I didn't know how." Gibbs admitted.

Tim stood up, "I need to be on my own, and I don't want to be there when you have to tell the others, just how big of an asshole are you?" He sat back down and glared as Gibbs left.

* * *

Ducky looked at him as he walked back into the bullpen. "Jethro?" he asked.

"Well, he's inherited my stubbornness." Gibbs said.

"Where's Tim?" Vance asked.

"Conference room, he's fine… He's not going anywhere." Gibbs said.

"Dorneget go and stay outside conference room one, If Agent McGee tries to leave the building stop him." Vance ordered Ned as he walked by.

Ned headed up as ordered and Vance turned to the others.

"Well Agent Gibbs I think it's time for an explanation, Don't you?"

He sat them all down. "Look I'm not going to go into why I did what I did, but I did know Evie McGee and I am Tim's biological father." Gibbs said.

"Is that why you had him transferred from Norfolk?" Vance asked.

"No, Tim's a good Agent; I didn't know he was my son until a few days ago." Gibbs admitted.

"Was that the letter you received?" Vance asked remembering Gibbs' reaction to the letter.

"Yes, but I know Tim and father or not I still say he isn't responsible for this latest murder with the lieutenant."

"I think we should question Tim first and find out exactly what he knows." Vance replied.

"Fine." Gibbs snapped, "But I don't want Jarvis questioning him. You do it Leon, you know him." He suggested.

"Ok," Vance agreed, "You can watch in observation, I don't want you interrupting for any reason, do you understand Gibbs?"

Gibbs nodded. "Tony you and Ned bring McGee down to Interrogation." He told his SFA. Tony got up and went to get him as Abby grabbed Gibbs by the arm and walked him to interrogation.

"Soooooooo, Timmy's a Gibblet. It's going to be awesome." She gushed.

"Abbs, Tim's not all that thrilled; he needs space to get his head around this." Gibbs warned her.

"Why would he not be thrilled, you're his father, you're way better than Shane McGee!"

"I don't know Abbs, but don't push him please." Gibbs pleaded; Abby hugged him as they left the elevator and went to her lab. Although being Abby once she got there she went into her office, pulled up the camera in the interrogation, and sat down ready to watch the show.

* * *

Jarvis followed Tony to the conference room and pushed past Tony to enter first.

"You're going to interrogation, Phoenix you will be going down." Jarvis turned to Tony "Cuff him."

"I don't think that's….."Tony started.

"I'm the Secretary of the Navy, if I tell you to handcuff someone you handcuff them!" Jarvis said.

"It's ok Tony," Tim said and held out his arms, "You're walking me past unsecured computers I need to be handcuffed."

Tony looked upset but he handcuffed Tim and together they walked to interrogation.

Other Agents stopped to watch them. Some started whispering and Tony glared at them.

Gibbs looked stricken as Tim walked into interrogation handcuffed. Tony walked into observation and Gibbs rounded on him, "What the hell Tony?"

"Jarvis made me." Tony said, "I hated it as much as you do, he made me walk him through the bullpen rather than take the back elevator."

"Where is he?" Gibbs growled

Tony pointed to the window, as Jarvis sat down in the corner.

"Mr. Secretary, I would prefer to conduct this interview myself." Leon said pointedly.

"Tough, I spent years trying to catch him; I will be here for this." Jarvis said pulling rank.

Tim sat there and just closed off. From her lab, Abby could see what he was doing. He had gotten to the point where he was over processing all the information he had.

She was worried and headed to observation.

* * *

Tim sat there he could not believe that a week ago his life had been normal, His boss had been his boss, his dad as nasty as he was had been his dad. His mom had been alive and he had been a federal agent. Now, His life had been turned upside down. His boss was his father….How did that happen? He was not sure he really wanted to know. His ultimate boss, SecNav wanted him locked up for a murder he had not committed and for hacking; he had done as a kid. Moreover, he knew his tenure as a federal Agent was over. There was no way he could go back to the job he loved. It was all gone; there was no need to fight anymore.

"Are you the Hacker wanted by the FBI in the 80's known as The Phoenix?" Vance asked.

Tim looked up at him and nodded. "I was, I haven't Hacked as The Phoenix since I left MIT."

"Are you responsible for the group Phoenix Fire?"

Again, Tim nodded.

"You hacked the Pentagon in the '80's and you hacked them last month. Did you order the attack and murder of Lieutenant Evans, because she found out who you were?"

"NO!" Tim said shocked.

"Where were you on the 28th of last month?" Vance pushed.

Tim clammed up. He knew where he was, but he could not tell them.

"Tim, if you expect us to help you, you need an alibi for the night of the 28th." Vance said more gently.

"I was helping a neighbor." Tim said.

"Is there anyone who can corroborate that? What were you doing?"

"I…..I Can't….." Tim clammed up, "No I cannot prove what I was doing on the 28th. There is no one who can corroborate where I was. I would hope my past record as a federal agent would be enough for you."

Gibbs thought back the 29th was the day Tim had come to work with unexplained bruising. He had said he had slipped but now he was not so sure.

"Tony did Tim say anything about that day to you?" he asked.

"No he was very quiet that day."

Abby tugged on Gibbs' arm, "I promised not to tell, and Gibbs if I tell you he won't speak to me again."

"Abbs. If you don't tell, Tim will go to prison."

 


	10. 10

Abby quickly weighed up the pros and cons of what she was about to do.

She took a long look at Tim and realized even though they were not together anymore she still cared about him and if it were her she would want him to do the same thing,

"Timmy was being blackmailed. He would not tell me who by, but he knew them and the blackmail hurt him deeply. It is where the last of the money from his book went and it is why he cannot afford to live anywhere better. They took his last twenty thousand dollars and he pays them a thousand a month still out of his pay check."

Gibbs looked astounded, "Do you have any information at all on the guy who's blackmailing him?" He felt a mixture of anger and fear.

"Nothing, I know he met him on the 28th of each month to make his payments and he usually came home quiet and bruised. He wouldn't talk to me and tried to brush it off but it kept happening and he ended up telling me but swore me to secrecy." Abby was openly crying. She knew what she was doing was right, but it felt like a betrayal and it hurt.

Gibbs stormed out of the room and into interrogation.

"You can't corroborate your whereabouts and yet you expect us to believe you had nothing to do with the lieutenant's death?" Vance said to Tim incredulously.

"He didn't I can prove it." Gibbs said

"Agent Gibbs, you cannot interfere or I will have you removed from the building." Vance said.

Vance stood up to remove Gibbs and Gibbs turned to Tim, "Tell them about the blackmail." He said desperate to exonerate his son.

"NO!" Tim stood up, "You're not supposed to know about that, who told?" he said.

Gibbs looked at Vance who moved and let him into the room.

"Tim, Abby told me, she doesn't want you to go to jail. Please Tim, who is blackmailing you."

Tim looked at his feet, "There's nothing you can do, and I can't stop him." He said quietly.

Gibbs crouched down and looked Tim in the eye, "Who is it Tim, who's blackmailing you."

"Shane McGee. He knew about Phoenix from when I was in MIT, he and Uncle Tom decided to blackmail me when I joined NCIS." Tim blinked back a tear he hoped no one saw. "When my book came out Uncle Tom figured out it was me that wrote it and they took the last twenty thousand. They said if I ever…" Tim broke off trying to get his fear and breathing under control.

"And they have been taking money from your wages?" Vance asked.

"$1000 a month. It leaves me with just enough for bus fares and my apartment. Sometimes food." He admitted.

"And yet you still help out your neighbor?" Gibbs asked amazed after hearing that of his son's generosity.

"They need it," He said simply. "So now you know I couldn't have killed the lieutenant on the 28th as that is Shane's regular payday and then he beats me and I go home and ice up before work the next day." He said in a matter of fact voice.

"Although..." he trailed off thinking hard.

* * *

"Although?" Vance prompted.

"Uncle Tom taught me all I knew about computers; he is as good as I am and could easily have pretended to be me online." Tim offered.

"Yes, fine…." Jarvis snapped feeling this interview starting to shift in a direction where Tim was not guilty and he was not liking it at all. "But what about the recent Hacking and moving of information on a secure Navy server. Only you had access to that." He accused Tim.

"Actually anyone with Navy clearance and half a brain can hack into that." Tim snapped tiredly.

"Yes maybe but according to our cybercrimes unit it was your unique signature." Jarvis argued.

"Tom..." Tim said realizing what had happened and feeling sicker by the minute.

"Uncle Tom used my fathers' clearance. They are identical twins and can quite easily pass for each other."

"So?" Jarvis baited.

"So, My father is Admiral McGee, he has clearance to any part of any ship in port." Tim said.

"We need to pick them up." Gibbs said and breathed a small sigh of relief as Vance agreed with him. "I need Tim to help." He said.

"He is NOT going anywhere." Jarvis stated, "He is still under arrest for the hacking of the pentagon in the '80's." He was determined now he had found his quarry he was not letting him get away.

"If Tom McGee is as good as you seem to think he his I need Tim to make sure no serious damage has been done and I will need him to track him." Gibbs argued.

"Fine! However, he will be accompanied at all times by two field Agents and Agent Brown from Cybercrimes. He will NOT be allowed access to his weapon." Jarvis demanded.

Vance looked at Gibbs in a silent, 'He is SecNav, be grateful he allowed that' look.

Gibbs nodded once, "Tim!" he called and Tim followed him.

* * *

As they entered the bullpen, Agents strained to look at Tim. Most fell back with a glare from Gibbs. Nevertheless, they would look as soon as his head was turned at one of their own being allowed access to the computers but still flanked by three other Agents.

"Tim, is Tom McGee online now?" Gibbs asked.

Tim sat at his computer and pulled up a file.

"What's this?" Russ asked.

"It's a RAT." Tim said, He was tired and even though he understood, the necessity of what SecNav had ordered it irked him.

"Why would you have rodents on your computer?" Ziva asked.

"RAT, Ziva it's a Remote Activation Tool, It gives me backdoor access to any computer I want. It means I can see what Tom is doing on his com….SHIT!" Tim swore and turned to Russ, "He has sniffers, can you help?"

Russ nodded and sat at Tony's computer.

The pair of them worked in silence for twenty minutes.

"I'm in, Thanks." Tim said.

"That was a tough programme to crack." Russ said awed at its sophistication.

Tim smiled, "I know I designed it." He admitted.

"Tim, I….we in cybercrimes know you're a good guy and didn't do this….also Phoenix was one of my hero's growing up, if we don't get to work with each other again….it's been a thrill." Russ grinned as he sat back and enjoyed watching one of his childhood heroes at work.

"Ok…Da…..Boss, Tom's online right now, he's trying to plant some more bogus evidence." Tim winced at what he had nearly called Gibbs and hoped he had not noticed. He wrote an address down on a piece of paper and passed it to him.

"You're coming with us Tim, You deserve to be there." Gibbs said

Tim nodded and followed flanked by his two bodyguards.

 


	11. 11

They pulled up at Tom McGee's house and Gibbs ordered the two Agents watching McGee to take the back of the house.

"Sorry Sir, we have orders to stay with Agent McGee at all times." Agent DeSales said.

"Fine." Gibbs growled, "You go with Tim round the rear, Agent Smith, you're with me." He said and they headed to the front of the building.

Tom McGee house was big, on his way around the back Tim saw someone go into an outbuilding. He motioned to Agent DeSales.

"This way I just saw someone go here." Tim said.

"OK, Tim." DeSales said and followed him. Although he had been ordered by Jarvis to stay and watch Tim, he had known him for years and knew that he could trust Tim's word.

Tim McGee had a great reputation at NCIS and Jarvis' was less than stellar. Therefore, even though the two Agents had been ordered by Jarvis to watch him, he knew that in this situation Jarvis would have his back.

They opened the door to the barn and took their first steps in. Before Tim knew what was happening DeSales was hit from behind and landed out cold on the floor.

"Jack!" Tim called and rushed to the other Agents aid. He turned, looking for the perpetrator and was punched in the face.

"So you decided to turn on us." Shane McGee said wiping the hand that was covered in Tim's blood down his jeans.

"Dad?" Tim said dazed.

"Told ya before boy. I am. Not. Your. Father." McGee said and with each word kicked Tim in the ribs.

Tim whimpered and crawled away. "Please don't…" He begged.

Shane McGee smiled thinking he had finally broken the boy. Then a fist hit him in the face.

Gibbs had cleared the house and he and Agent Smith had found Tom McGee totally engrossed in planting false information on Phoenix. They quickly arrested him and put him in the back of the sedan in handcuffs.

Realizing they had not seen Tim or Agent DeSales, they walked the perimeter and heard Shane McGee beating up on Tim.

Gibbs' blood boiled. He had seen enough. No way was Shane McGee getting away with beating up HIS son anymore.

Tim looked up and saw Gibbs enter. "Please don't…" He begged. However, not thinking Gibbs smashed his fist into Shane McGee's face "Get off My Son!" Gibbs yelled.

Tim painfully pulled himself up and crawled between Shane and Gibbs. "Stop!" he managed to say and passed out over the unconscious body of McGee.

* * *

"Paramedics are on their way." Smith said as he walked back into the barn "God, what happened!" He exclaimed helping Gibbs Move Tim off of McGee and off to the side.

"I hit him." Gibbs said simply.

"Agent Gibbs. I know Agent McGee admires you greatly, but hitting his father may destroy any working relationship you both have together." Agent Smith said.

Gibbs glared at him and walked outside to check for the ambulance and to calm down.

Tim groaned and tried to sit up. "Dad?" He said looking around.

"He'll be ok." Agent Smith said looking at Shane McGee.

Tim panicked "Did McGee hit him too!" He started to hyperventilate.

"Calm Down Tim." Agent Smith said confused. "Your father is unconscious but he'll be fine Agent Gibbs hit him."

"But you said he was hurt…..DAD!" Tim yelled pushing against Agent Smith trying to get up.

Gibbs ran in, "I'm here Tim; you're going to be ok."

Tim relaxed, "You're not hurt?" He asked concerned looking him up and down. "Smith said….oh!" Tim said his eyes widening as he realized what Smith meant.

"Agent DeSales….is he alright….Shane hit him with a piece of wood I think" Tim looked over in his direction.

"He's still out cold son. His heart rate is good. I will get the paramedics to check him out first. Ok?" Gibbs reassured him.

Tim nodded and leant back on Gibbs and passed out again.

* * *

The next thing he knew he was waking up to a white room and hushed voices. One of the voices was louder than the others and although Tim's head was pounding, he heard the loudest voice. "I don't care if he is unconscious, he must be guarded"

"Clayton, Tim took down the killers of Lieutenant Evans and cracked your hacking ring." Vance said.

"He is still Phoenix….I am going to take him down for that!" Jarvis' voice rose in pitch.

"No you're not." Gibbs voice cut across him. "I have a letter for you."

There was silence then the sounds of Jarvis spluttering "But…!"

"It's there in black and white, The President had absolved Tim of all charges you can't arrest him. You try and you will be stripped of your position. All Tim has to do is promise the only hacking he will do will be as he has been for the last few years, on the side of NCIS for the express purposes of catching criminals."

"BYE JARVIS!" Tony's happy voice called and Tim could imagine him waving at SecNav's retreating back.

* * *

Tim opened his eyes, "Welcome Back Timothy," Ducky said. He had been sitting beside his bed the whole time and had known precisely when Tim had woken and what he had just heard.

Tim coughed and tried to raise himself up.

"Is it true?" He asked shakily. "Jarvis isn't after me anymore?"

"You're free and clear probie!" Tony smiled as he stuck his head around the door. "Can't stay boss has us on the reports, don't worry I'll do yours. I just wanted to see for myself that you were ok."

"Thanks Tony. I will be ok; I am just a bit sore. How's my Da….Shane McGee?" He asked.

"Broken Nose, Broken pride, surly temper, arrogant asshole…..he'll live." Tony replied. He left and Tim could hear him arguing with Ziva about who would drive as they walked off down the corridor.

* * *

Gibbs opened the door and walked in. "Hey Tim, how are you feeling?" He asked.

"Sore," Tim admitted.

He looked at Gibbs and the knot in his stomach got bigger. He knew his painkillers were kicking in and relaxed into them. "Why did you hit my dad Boss?" He asked not thinking.

"He was killing you Tim," Gibbs said, hurt that Tim had gone back to calling him Boss.

"He's done worse…..He wasn't trying to kill me." Tim said. He knew all Shane wanted was the same as usual, which was Shane putting Tim in his place and Tim knew Shane would have stopped before he had done any real damage.

"He was hurting you." Gibbs reiterated again quietly.

"So?" Tim really did not understand, "I've handled him before, it's not your problem."

"Tim…" Gibbs started to say but Tim cut him off.

"No! Gibbs, you don't understand. I don't need you coming in and playing father now. If you cared why didn't you ever call my mother, you slept with her, even you knew that there was a chance that she could have been pregnant. Then when you found out you didn't say anything you let me rant on…you should have told me, you didn't care then and the only reason you care now is that the others know. I grew up alone and you weren't there when Shane treated me like dirt as a child because I was YOUR son. I've learned to cope on my own. I DON'T NEED YOU!" Tim hissed he was angry but still mindful of the others in the hospital. "Just go. I'll put my transfer papers in on Monday and I won't be an embarrassment to you anymore."

Tim turned over in the bed and faced the wall, tears fell silently as he heard Gibbs leave the room.

 


	12. 12

Gibbs walked out of the hospital and headed straight to his basement.

He loved Tim; he had done ever since he found out that he was his father. He wished he had known sooner, there was so much anger in his son and he felt like he was walking a knife-edge around him. His heart had leapt earlier when Tim had called him Dad and had been worried about him and needed him. Now he felt crushed. Tim did not want to know him. He had only found out he was his father a week ago and he had screwed it up already.

He picked up a jar, filled it with bourbon, and picked up the sander. Then he threw the sander at the wall. He sank back onto the bench and drank his drink.

"Hey Boss." Tony's voice floated down from upstairs.

Gibbs groaned and looked up ready to be there for whatever Tony wanted.

"I got you Chinese." Tony said carrying a plate of food down to his boss.

"Thanks." Gibbs said.

They sat and ate in a companionable silence.

Gibbs waited for Tony to tell him what was on his mind.

After a while, Tony stopped eating and looked at Gibbs. "It's not your fault Boss.

Tim just needs to work it out himself. It's a big change for both of you."

"He doesn't need me Tony." Gibbs said.

"He does he just won't let himself admit it. My father was like his. I'm not the best now at asking for help. It is inbred into us. Don't cry. Don't show emotion. Don't be weak. No one needs you and you don't need anyone else." Tony said quietly.

"Is that how it was for you?" Gibbs asked.

Tony laughed a bitter laugh, "Still is….unfortunately, my father IS my father." He turned to Gibbs. "Tim is your son; you have a chance to fix this. He needs to realize you won't treat him the same as Shane McGee. You need to be there to listen as he cries and works through this. You both need each other; there's still hope for Tim."

Gibbs looked at Tony, He knew the young man had been through a lot with his father but he was touched at how Tony wanted to help Tim.

"There's hope for you too Tony." Gibbs said hoping to help lift Tony's mood.

"Not really." Tony smiled sadly. "I learnt years ago, my father doesn't love me, He tolerates me….it's the best I'm ever going to get from him. I'll take it every time he dishes it out. We are and always will be dysfunctional Boss, I love my dad and I live in hope that one day he'll look at me and be proud of me as his son."

"I'm proud of you Tony and what you're doing now. Thank you I will be there for Tim. I promise I won't let him down, and my door is always open for you too." Gibbs said.

Tony got up and headed for the door.

"Let Tim know that, He will need to hear to say it and see it in action." He said and left.

Gibbs sat on the sofa thinking about all Tony had said.

* * *

Early the next morning Tim woke up and jumped slightly as he saw Gibbs asleep in the chair next to his bed.

This was a new experience for him, the last time Tim had spent any significant amount of time in hospital was when he was sixteen and he had totaled his Camero.

He had spent a total of twenty weeks in hospital and hadn't had a visitor once.

He turned over and watched Gibbs sleep. He looked for things in Gibbs' face that he would recognize in his own.

The eyes definitely, and they had the same nose and hair color.

There was no getting around it; Gibbs was his father. However, what exactly did that mean?

* * *

"Hey," Gibbs said gently as he woke to see Tim deep in thought.

"Why are you here?" Tim asked, there was no anger or malice in the question, just confusion. Gibbs' heart hurt at what Tim must have lived through to ask that question.

"You're injured, I'm worried about you." He told him.

"I'm sure I'll be back to work soon." Tim said having figured that Gibbs must be wondering about when he would be ready to resume his place on the team.

Gibbs relieved that Tim had apparently forgotten last nights threat to move teams let out a sigh of relief. On hearing that, Tim nodded. He did just worry about his team.

He wasn't going to be burned this time.

"I'm sure Vance can move someone to TAD while I'm out." Tim reassured him.

Gibbs suddenly realized what Tim was thinking.

"God, No! Tim! The team is the last of my worries you're sick I'm here for you." He reiterated.

Tim looked at him, slightly hopefully but very guarded. "Because?"

"Because you're my son, I am here for you anytime you need me. Because you need me now and more than that because I love you." Gibbs practically ended up pleading.

Tim gave a sour laugh, "Love me? You don't know me….you know the Agent, but you don't know me. My father…..Shane knew me and he hated me, what makes you think you won't hate me when you get to know me." Tim took a deep breath. "I'm scared." He breathed quietly, hoping Gibbs wouldn't hear it.

Gibbs got up and sat next to Tim, He gently placed his arm around him. "I won't let you down son. I'm scared too!"

Tim looked up surprised. "You are?"

"Your sister, Kelly died when she was eight. When I saw Shane attack you, I was scared I was going to lose you, just after I had found you. I understand it may take a long time for us to have anywhere near a normal father, son relationship….but I'd like to try it. If that's ok with you?"

For Tim those words were ones he had waited his whole life to hear. Ok so they weren't coming from the father he had hoped would say it. However, maybe, just maybe this could be better.

He let out a small sob, not letting Gibbs see the tears that were falling he just nodded silently.

 


	13. 13

Tim sat on his bed. Finally out of those hospitals PJ's and wearing jeans and an MIT sweatshirt. He was waiting for the final doctors' check and he would be able to leave. Two weeks in the hospital had been more than enough.

Although Gibbs had visited every day and they had talked, for as long as Tim could stay awake about Gibbs' life and his family. Tim told Gibbs some of his childhood, not all the bad stuff and all of the good things he remembered.

He had packed his bag that morning and looked up as Gibbs entered.

"Hey," Tim said, "You don't need to visit today, they are letting me out."

"Not visiting I'm here to pick you up, I already talked to the doc and he says you can't drive yet." Gibbs said with a smile. "He's also concerned about the walk up to your apartment."

Tim's face fell, "I have to go home."

Gibbs looked at his son, "No you don't."

"But I still can't afford a motel. Even though I'm not being blackmailed anymore, it will be a pinch…" Tim trailed off trying to juggle his money situation around in his head.

"You can stay with me Tim," Gibbs said

Tim looked at him, He really wanted to spend time with his father but the part of him that had been raised by Shane McGee was skeptical that this was a good thing.

"Ok." He said tentatively.

Gibbs smiled and picked up his bag as the doctor came in with his discharge papers.

The doctor outlined to Tim how he would not be able to go on active duty again until he had finished the medication given to him. Also to help the healing in his ribs where he had been kicked he was to take it easy as much as possible for a month.

"But….Can I at least go on desk duty…I have to work!" Tim said.

"Give it a week; I hear you're staying with Agent Gibbs until you are better." The doctor said, "So at least you won't be on your own if there are any complications."

Tim nodded and followed Gibbs to the car.

"Abby wanted to throw you a welcome home party," Gibbs told Tim and saw him flinch. "She isn't there yet, I said I would check with you."

"Is she mad with me?" Tim asked worried about upsetting Gibbs, as he knew she was his favorite.

"She asked me the same thing about you." Gibbs told him. Tim's eyes opened in surprise.

"Why would she think I was mad with her? She's my best friend I could never…..oh the blackmail thing." He said realizing what she could be thinking, "Honest Gibbs, I'm not mad with her," he said quickly scared of making him angry, "if she hadn't told you I'd probably still be in interrogation."

"I told her no party tonight, but I will invite her to dinner tomorrow, you need tonight to get settled in." Gibbs said,

"Thanks Gibbs," Tim said tiredly.

* * *

They pulled up outside Gibbs' house and he helped Tim inside.

He put Tim's bag down and went into the kitchen, he came out with coffee and Tim was still standing just inside the door. For a second Gibbs was worried that Tim was feeling uncomfortable and wanted to leave.

"Tim?" Gibbs said "This is your home too you can sit down you know."

"It's not my home, Boss. My home is in Norfolk." Gibbs took a step back not wanting to crowd him.

"I know that Tim, but this can be your home too if you want?" he said hopefully.

"Maybe….I would like that boss, but what if I screw this up?" He asked sitting heavily on the sofa.

"Tim, I will be your father whether this works out or not, I really want it too, I'm not talking about us going to little league or camping, we missed that. However, I want to get to know you. The you, you are now, you can teach me about all that tech stuff you like and that MMRPG?" Gibbs said and Tim let out a small laugh.

"You mean MMORPG's," he said with a small smile.

"And when you're ready, if you're ready in the future…Maybe you could call me dad?" Gibbs said hopefully.

Tim looked at him, He really wanted to say yes, but everything in him said not to let it all go yet, what if he did it, accepted Gibbs as his dad and then it all backfired? He would be left with nothing and would have to give up the job he loved.

Therefore, as he did not want to upset Gibbs, Tim nodded silently.

"I'm tired," Tim said and Gibbs jumped up.

"I'll show you to your room." He said and grabbed Tim's bag.

Tim followed him. The room had been freshly painted and had a laptop and a new bed and desk set in it.

Tim looked at Gibbs inquisitively "Why would you do this, the couch would have been fine,"

"I was hoping after you got better, you might come and stay over sometime. This is your room Tim. I don't know if this is the sort of computer you like, the boy in the shop said it was the latest model."

Tim gulped and nodded feeling the tears starting to build up. "T….Thank you." He said. "No one's ever bought anything like this for me before, I'll pay you back." He said quickly. "But it might take me a while."

"No son, This is for you I have years of birthday's and Christmas' to make up for, please let me at least give you a space in my home that is yours." Gibbs said.

Tim dropped his bag on his bed and stood there awkwardly.

"I'll be in the basement if you need me," Gibbs said, "Don't forget your meds are due in an hour."

"OK, Thanks." Tim said. He stood watching the door as Gibbs left and he collapsed on the bed.

* * *

He looked around in wonder. The bed was obviously solid wood and hand made. So was the desk, looking closer he realized that Gibbs may have built the desk. The room was Tim's favorite shade of blue; he thought Gibbs might have been talking to Abby. The laptop was sitting on the desk and a matching lamp had been placed there. He looked at the bookshelf and was surprised to find along with some classics that all of Tim's books were on the shelf as well. The whole room had taken a lot of care and thought.

'Why would he do this for me?' Tim wondered, Shane McGee had never done anything like this for him, he had never been allowed to have books in his room and he had never taken the time to have his room redecorated, in fact growing up his room had been the house's storage room and the few books he had, had in his room he had hidden under the mattress.

He picked up his phone and made a call. "Abby, I need to talk are you free?" he asked.

"Sure Tim." Abby said.

Tim told her all that had happened and Abby listened.

"Tim, you are worth what Gibbs has done for you. It will be ok if you take a chance with him, I know you are worried, but he does love you. It's a parental thing, it's instant."

Tim listened to her, over the years she had been his best friend and confidant. Even though they had, had a thing in the beginning they both knew they were better as friends and he valued her opinion greatly.

"Ok Abbs. I'll try." He said, "Oh and you're still coming for dinner tomorrow right?"

"Sure, gotta go now, I'm off bowling with Sister Rosita," she said.

Tim smiled, "Tell her I said hi." He said to her and cut off the call as a knock came on his door.

"Hey Tim, I have your medication." Gibbs said,

Tim looked up and took his tablets.

"Thanks Dad." He said quietly.

Gibbs smiled and left Tim to rest.

 


	14. 14

Tim got up and went downstairs.

Gibbs was already on his third cup of coffee of the morning. He looked up over the paper as Tim came in and helped himself to a cup.

"Hey Dad," Tim said and sat at the table. Gibbs looked up and nodded.

"Morning, are you ready for today?" Gibbs asked.

Tim was due to come into work for the first time this morning. Although he was only going in for an interview with the Director, and to give his statement concerning Shane McGee, he was nervous.

The last two days with Gibbs had been nice, He had started to relax a little and there had been a lot of talking. Tim had gradually started to let Gibbs in although he still kept his guard up a bit, and he had agreed to call him dad.

Gibbs for his part had relaxed with his son, even to the point of asking Tim if would be ok for him to meet his dad. Although Tim had met Jackson before on a case in Stillwater, this would be the first time he would meet him as his grandfather, after some trepidation he had agreed last night.

Tim went upstairs and got in the shower as Gibbs made his phone call "Hey Dad," Gibbs said.

"Leroy, how are you?" Jackson asked. Not caring that his son had rung him early, as running a store meant he was an early riser anyway, and Gibbs knew that.

"I'm fine….I have some news, you had better sit down." Gibbs said and proceeded to tell Jackson about Tim and how he came to be, also how he had found out about being his father.

"Well." Jackson said slowly taking it in., "I'd better come down and properly meet this grandson of mine. "I'll get someone to watch the shop and be with you tomorrow." He said. Jackson remembered the soft spoken young man from when his son had been there on a case, he had like him then but had never in his wildest dreams thought they were related.

"It'll be good to see you again Dad. Tim says he is looking forward to it, but he is a bit fragile right now with all these changes going on in his life." Gibbs said.

"I'll be gentle with him son," Jackson reassured him. He smiled as he hung up the phone. He turned to Ed who was buying milk, "Hey Ed, I have a new grandson." He smiled.

"Born this morning?" Ed asked….Jackson had not said Leroy was seeing anyone….sly old dog.

"Nope a long time ago, works with him, you remember Agent McGee?" He said.

"Err….The Goth girl?" Ed asked confused.

"No, The younger Male Agent….He's Leroy's son." Jackson laughed at the look of confusion on Ed's face.

"Let me get ya a coffee Ed and I'll explain." Jackson said sitting him down.

Tim walked down stairs ready to go as Gibbs grabbed his gun.

"I talked to your grandfather, he'll be here tomorrow." Gibbs said. Tim did not reply and just nodded.

* * *

As they entered the bullpen, Tony looked up and grinned. "Hey probie." He smiled as Tim and Gibbs entered.

"Hi Tony," Tim said. He was surprised on entering the elevator he had become incredibly nervous. He had thought that he and Gibbs were going straight to Vance's office, but Gibbs suddenly remembered he needed to sign some paperwork so as they were early he decided to go to his desk and get the paperwork out of the way so he could spend tomorrow with Tim and Jackson.

Tim stood awkwardly in the center of the bullpen.

"Sit down Tim," Gibbs said.

"But….The computers….I can't." Tim suddenly seemed unsure of himself.

"Sit down Agent McGee." Director Vance said entering bullpen. "I can see you're uncomfortable standing."

Tim sank gratefully into his chair. However, he avoided even looking at his computer.

Vance walked over to Gibbs, "Are you both ready?" He asked.

Gibbs looked over at Tim and then nodded, "Yep." He replied and they both followed Vance to his office.

Vance motioned them to sit in the chairs in front of his desk and he sat down.

"Agent McGee, I am to officially inform you that you have been cleared of all charges regarding the hacking in the 1980's as the hacker Phoenix."

Tim looked up surprised.

"However, there is a stipulation that you do no more hacking unless as part of your official NCIS duties."

"I can do that Sir," Tim said relieved.

* * *

Vance looked at them both, "There is one other matter concerning you both." He said.

"The revelation, Agent Gibbs that you are Agent McGee's father, can you confirm that this is true for the record?" Vance asked knowing that Gibbs had already said he was.

"Yes Sir, for the record, I am Agent McGee's biological father." Gibbs said proudly.

"And did you or did you not hire Agent McGee knowing he was your son?" Vance asked.

"No I did not know until two weeks ago. I received a letter sent after Agent McGee's mother died informing me that I was in fact his father. I had had no contact with Evie McGee since the undercover operation we were involved in where Tim was conceived."

"So why did you request Agent McGee join your team." Vance asked.

"Agent McGee had been called in a few times to help out my team and I found him to be a very capable agent with some real potential to go far, his computer skills have been proved to be invaluable and he has earned his place on my team." Gibbs stated.

Vance bit back a grin, He knew why Gibbs had really hired McGee but he had to do this so pressed on.

"Now you know you two are father and son, do either of you feel there will be a conflict of interest in working together?" Vance asked wondering what both men would answer.

Tim took a deep breath, "Sir I don't think there will be a conflict of interest, although we are related biologically, we have worked together for five years and I feel that I can maintain that professional relationship during work hours."

"I have to agree with Tim," Gibbs said.

Vance smiled, "I agree with you both, my recommendation is that you both be allowed to continue working together, However, SecNav is insisting that you both have a month's probation. Any conflict of interest and you Agent McGee will be moved to Cybercrimes." Vance looked at them both, "Off the record I think Clayton Jarvis is still smarting over not catching you Tim, and half of Cybercrimes want your signature." He smiled, as Tim looked at him surprised.

"Y…you do?" He said.

"Agent McGee, You are a credit to NCIS and in the years I have worked with you I have found you to be an exemplary Agent, I for one am pleased you will be staying with our MCRT, and I will be glad to welcome you back when you are cleared for active duty again."

"Thank you Sir," McGee said.

He and Gibbs left.

* * *

Gibbs turned to Tim, "You ok?"

"Yes, Boss…" Tim looked confused, "Is that it now?"

"Sorry Son, Agent Balboa is going to interview you about Shane and Tom McGee; I will be at my desk when you are finished."

Tim looked over as Agent Balboa exited the elevator. "You ready Tim." He asked kindly.

Tim turned to Balboa, "Sure, no problem," he said and followed him to interrogation.

 


	15. 15

Tim sat in interrogation with Balboa sitting across the desk from him.

He knew that this time he was not the suspect but felt guilty as both Shane and Tom McGee were family, ok so it turned out they were not really but he had grown up with Tom as his uncle and the Admiral as his father.

"Ok Tim, where do you want to start?" Balboa asked him.

Tim wondered where to start and decided the best way was just to tell him everything.

"In the 80's at MIT I was a Hacker known as Phoenix and founded a small group of hackers called Phoenix Fire. We did small things nothing ever really damaging although we did hack the CIA, FBI and the Pentagon a few times," He admitted with a small smile.

"And how did Shane McGee and Tom McGee get involved in this?" Balboa prodded.

"The Admiral…Shane McGee was my father….or so I was led to believe at the time. He was for want of a better word an abusive man when it came to me, a Tough but fair Admiral to his crew and a doting father to his daughter Sarah, He was thrilled when I left home to go to MIT, he was finally rid of me. I had a good relationship, or so I thought with my Uncle Tom." Tim took a deep breath.

"It turned out my fa….The Admiral had asked Tom to befriend me, he had heard about my hacking through a conversation I had with Sarah, my half sister. He thought it could be used to make money for him."

"You had said in a past interview that Tom McGee and Shane McGee started blackmailing you…when was that?" Balboa asked.

"When I joined FLETC. They wanted me to hack more government databases for them, I wouldn't but they made me show Tom how to do it." Tim admitted.

"Made you?" Balboa asked.

"Every weekend we were off rotation I would visit my mother and Sarah. The Admiral left me instructions to teach Uncle Tom about computers. I thought I was making the Admiral proud of me." Tims' voice dropped, as he felt ashamed to admit that.

"I tried to stop when I found out what they were doing." Tim said. "They were using the Admiral's clearance to hack into the naval systems database using my old hacking pass codes. Leaving my electronic footprints for others to find."

"Did you try and stop them at any point?" Balboa asked.

"Yes. Two weeks after I joined Agent Gibbs' team, I discovered what they were up to. I had been ordered back I thought because my mother was sick. The Admiral had sent her and Sarah away on a cruise for Sarah's birthday. He hired a lock up. I am not sure where it was. He had me book a week off work, H.R records can confirm this."

Tim took a sip of water. He did not want to tell them the next part.

* * *

"I….I need to know there is no one from my team watching." Tim said suddenly.

Balboa nodded towards the glass and the Tech next door switched on the light. The room was empty, save for the technician.

Tim sighed. "Sorry, it's just… This is hard for me, I don't want to lose their respect." He admitted.

"The Admiral had played me. He had not talked to me in seven years at this point, which was how I liked it; He had started blackmailing me at FLETC they took $1000 a month from me to ensure they would not tell anyone about me being Phoenix. I had stopped that but Tom had planted a trail that meant if I double-crossed them, I would go down for their crimes. When my book was published they took all the royalties but since then I haven't had enough money to pay them." He admitted.

He paused and took another sip of water.

"So your Mother was sick, or so you thought and the Admiral and Tom McGee lured you home..."

"I had run out of money to pay them, and Tom had a great idea that if they hacked the Naval database they could sell secrets, but I had already gone in and added extra firewalls to the routes I knew they would use. The Admiral and Tom got mad and they took me to the lock up where Tom kept his computers and tried to force me to clear my firewalls out of the way."

"Did you?" Balboa asked.

"No, I am a Federal Agent and won't put my job or my principles at risk," Tim stated.

"I take it they didn't like that." Balboa said

Tim smiled a sad smile, "I never could please the Admiral, and I don't know why he expected me to this time. So I didn't and he as usual punished me."

"As usual?"

Tim took his jacket off and lifted his shirt to show hundreds of white lines, "His favorite way was the belt although he would hit me as well as long as other people didn't see," Tim laughed sourly "Oh and his best weapon was his mouth."

Balboa waited.

* * *

"The Admiral can be very creative in the amount of ways he lets me know I shouldn't be allowed to live. How I was a complete waste of space and how NCIS would function a lot better without me. He kept telling me my own father had worked with me for years and hadn't told me because I was a useless excuse for a son."

Balboa hurt for his friend, Tim had always been there to support anyone who needed it and yet he was so hurt and had never hurt anyone himself.

"I know that any secrets they had managed to get would be useless to anyone else, I managed to install a program in their computers, they could see the information but the second they downloaded it the information would be corrupted so they couldn't use it. I didn't want them to be caught selling secrets."

"But if they had, they would have gone to prison, why didn't you let anyone know."

"It would have hurt my mother and Sarah… and …. He was my father." Tim said feeling ashamed.

"Thank you Tim," Balboa said shaking his friends' hand, "This will help a lot."

* * *

Tim nodded and walked out of interrogation. As he turned the corner, he heard a familiar voice.

"You ran crying to daddy then, you sniveling little whelp!" the voice yelled at him.

Tim flinched in terror and turned to see Admiral Shane McGee being physically restrained by two NCIS Agents.

"I….." Tim's voice failed him.

Shane McGee knocked the two guards holding him down and barreled headfirst into Tim. "You ruined my career boy, you still telling them lies….DO THEY KNOW WHAT YOU ARE!"

Tim slid down the wall and let out a whimper.

"No more." He said quietly.

"What d'ya say to me boy!" McGee said squaring up to Tim

Tim pushed himself back up the wall. "I said No more! You are NOT my father, you do not have the right to treat me like that anymore and YOU just assaulted a Federal Agent, which you will now have added to your charges." He squared up to the Admiral and looked him in the eye. "Oh, and you were a lousy excuse for a father too!" Then Tim smiled a feral smile "And Admiral, yes they do know what I am … I am a Gibbs."

Watching all the color drain from Admiral McGee's face Tim nodded to the two agents who regained their hold of him and took him away.

 


	16. 16

Tim got off the elevator and strode purposefully towards Gibbs' desk.

"I'm done Boss." He said, "I need to talk to you, can we go home?" He asked.

"Sure Tim, I'll just be a sec." Gibbs said and finished his paperwork.

"How did your interview go Tim?" Ziva asked.

Tim smiled, "Really good, hopefully he's going down, if nothing else he's going to get charged with assault," He grinned.

Gibbs looked up at that "You ok."

Tim gave a slow smile. "I'm awesome!" He grinned.

Gibbs cocked his head to one side and looked at his son questioningly but Tim said nothing.

"OK you two, we're off don't work too late." Gibbs told Tony and Ziva. Then he and Tim headed to the elevator.

"Gotta head to the railway station, I have a pickup to make." Gibbs said cryptically.

Tim nodded lost in thought.

"You sure you're ok?" Gibbs prodded again.

"I had a run in with the Admiral, but it's all good now." Tim said.

Gibbs looked over at him.

"Not now, I will talk about it later; let's just say it was a learning experience." Tim said cryptically.

* * *

They sat outside the rail station and Gibbs sat looking at the main doors.

Tim wanted to ask whom they were waiting for, but was worried he would upset his dad. Instead, he sat quietly with a small smile replaying the conversation he had had with the Admiral repeatedly in his head. The more he thought about it the more clearer he felt in his own mind about what he wanted to ask Gibbs.

"Good he's here." Gibbs said and got out of the car.

Tim looked up but could not see anyone he knew. Then he spotted Jackson Gibbs. He got out of the car too, but stood close to the door.

"Hey Dad!" Gibbs called and waited as Jackson saw him and turned.

Jackson smiled and hugged his son.

"Leroy!" He grinned.

"Come on Dad, Car's over here." Gibbs said turning to the sedan with Tim standing beside it. "Be nice." Gibbs whispered to his father.

"Tim, Welcome to the family son." Jackson said.

Jackson hugged the young man who involuntarily stiffened. "T…Thank you Sir," Tim said stepping back and offering his hand.

Jackson felt that he may have just scared his grandson took the offered hand and shook it warmly.

Gibbs took Jacksons bags and put them in the trunk as Jackson and Tim got into the car.

Gibbs soon joined them and they headed off to the house.

* * *

Jackson and Gibbs talked about the weather, football stats anything but why he was here, which was what Tim was sitting in the back of the car listening for. He remembered when he had been young and his grandfather had been invited over by his father. It had usually been because he had done something the Admiral did not want to punish him for himself. Though the Admiral had been abusive to Tim growing up it was nothing to what his grandfather had been.

Tim sat rigid in the back of the car terrified; all the bravado from the afternoon had gone.

As they arrived at the house Tim could barely contain his fear, He knew that Jackson was a kind man, but he did not know what he was like behind closed doors with family. Tim's main worry was he had done something to displease Gibbs and this was his way of disciplining Tim.

He walked two steps behind the older men as they entered the house and stayed close to the door.

"Tim," Gibbs called as he noticed his son lagging by the door.

"Yes Sir," Tim jumped. "I mean Gibbs."

"Do you want to take your grandfathers bags upstairs?" He asked

"Yes Sir." Tim grabbed the bag and practically ran upstairs.

"Is he alright?" Jackson asked, "He seems to be wound up a bit." He said concerned.

* * *

Gibbs followed Tim upstairs and looked in the guest room for him. The guest room was empty and Jackson's bag was not on the bed, he carried on to Tim's room to find Jackson's bag sat on the bed and Tim was quietly packing his own bag.

"What you doing Tim?" Gibbs asked confused.

"Packing my bag to go home." Tim said not understanding why Gibbs was confused.

"Have I done something wrong son?" Gibbs looked worried, this was supposed to be a nice surprise for Tim, he did not know what he had done but something was going horribly wrong.

"No. Did I….I am sorry," Tim said contrite.

"What for?"

"I…I don't know. I tried my best at being your son and I must have done something wrong….I am sorry I'm new at this…please don't let him…." Tim trailed off and sat on the edge of the bed tears threatening to spill.

"Tim!" Gibbs exclaimed worried about his abrupt change in attitude. "You've done nothing wrong, how could you? What on earth do you think your grandfather is going to do?"

Tim shuddered, "My…The Admiral always brought my Grandfather over when he was tired of disciplining me, Grandfather had more…..more unique ways of reinforcing the discipline, I'm sorry I showed fear….I'll take what I deserve." Tim said looking at the floor after seeing the anger on Gibbs' face.

Moreover, he was angry, though not at Tim, it was all Gibbs could do not to walk out go to NCIS headquarters and shoot Shane McGee dead.

* * *

Gibbs schooled his features and sat next to Tim. "Son, I am not the Admiral and my father is NOT, that Grandfather."

"He's right Tim," Jackson said who had listened with horror from the hallway.

"For a start, you can call me Grandpa. For another I am proud to have you as my grandson."

"Really?!" Tim said surprised

Jackson smiled and opened his arms, "Come here son." He said and this time Tim rushed into his arms and hugged him, "Hello Grandpa." He whispered.

Jackson smiled at his son and his grandson.

"Tim, why were you packing?" Gibbs asked.

Tim suddenly felt ashamed, "I thought you didn't want me anymore, and….and I was scared of getting hurt again."

Jackson got up, "You have a nice room Tim, but I think I'll stay in the guest room," He picked up his bag "I'll just unpack."

"Tim, what did you want to talk to me about before we left work?" Gibbs asked.

"I told the Admiral…that I wasn't afraid of him anymore," Tim said starting to relax. "He yelled at me and attacked me…I am ok." He added hastily at Gibbs' concerned look.

"But he said something which made me reevaluate who I am." Tim said quietly.

"What did he say son?" Gibbs asked.

"He said did you all know who I was…."He said.

"And you said?" Gibbs guided him wondering what he had said,

"I said I was a…..Gibbs." Tim said, "Could I be…Please?" He asked hopefully.

 


	17. 17

Gibbs' face split into a huge grin.

"Of course Son, if that's what you want." He told his son feeling happier than he had in years.

"We would be proud to have you share our name." Jackson said hugging Tim again.

Tim looked up at them both hopefully. "Really?" He asked.

"Tim, you're my son, had I known about you years ago you would already have my name, I am proud of the man you have become and I am proud to be your father… I am proud of you." Gibbs said holding Tim by his shoulders and looking him in the eye.

"T…Thanks, Dad." Tim hugged Gibbs.

Tim came down the next morning feeling a lot better, "Morning Grandpa, Dad." He said smiling.

"Hey Tim, What you up to today?" Jackson asked.

"I have to go back to the hospital for a check up today." Tim said, "Hopefully after that I can go back to work." He added looking to Gibbs for approval.

"We'll see what the doctor says son." Gibbs said barely suppressing a grin.

"You remind me of Kelly." Jackson said.

Tim face fell, "Sorry." He said worried he had upset Gibbs.

"No, Tim! I didn't mean it badly, your sister just always hated being sick too." Jackson said

"Hey Dad, I have to go into work for a few hours, maybe you and Tim can go through the photo albums and you can tell him some more about Kelly, and Tim, I'll tell you some more later on ok?" Gibbs offered.

Tim nodded, "It would be nice to know something about her." He said quietly.

Gibbs stood up and grabbed his keys, "I'll be back in time for your hospital appointment," He said and left.

"Do I make him feel bad, about Kelly, I mean?" Tim asked Jackson after Gibbs had left.

"No, He will always miss her, but he loves her as much as he loves you. Don't think you are a replacement for her, you are not." Jackson said gesturing to Tim so he sat in the kitchen chair across from his Grandpa. "When Leroy called me to tell me about you he was as skittish as you were on meeting me, but the love he had for you was already evident. He is so proud of you and is really pleased to be your father."

Tim smiled all he had ever wanted was for his father to be proud of him and now not only was it his father, but his boss who was proud of him, the Admiral did not matter anymore.

Jackson got the album out, started to show Tim pictures of Kelly, and told him about her younger days.

* * *

Gibbs walked into the office and sat down.

He went through the morning reports. One caught his attention and he printed it out.

"You ok boss?" Tony asked looking at the concern on Gibbs' face.

Gibbs nodded.

He went up to the directors' office and emerged twenty minutes later.

"Tony, my office." Gibbs said and Tony followed him to the elevator.

"You ok Boss?" Tony asked after Gibbs had pulled the emergency switch.

"Tim's apartment block burned down last night." He said simply.

"Tim wasn't…!" Tony started but Gibbs put his hand up to placate the younger man.

"No, he's still staying with me, but he doesn't know yet, we got the notification as his home address is linked to his NCIS credentials." Gibbs said.

"God!" Tony exclaimed, Tim had been through a lot in the last few weeks and losing his home would devastate his friend.

"Also, Tim has asked to take my name, before we tell Vance I wanted to run it past you as my SFA, do you think it will cause any problems for the team?"

Tony smiled, "This is great, we all call you boss, and Mc….Tim is Tim…it'll take a bit of getting used to but for him this will be great. I will have your six if you get any problems from Vance." He said.

A few minutes later Ziva saw Gibbs and Tony exiting the elevator with Tony following.

Tony turned to Gibbs, "You can tell Abby and I'll tell Ziva." He grinned.

Gibbs nodded and headed to the lab.

* * *

"Tell me what Tony?" Ziva asked intrigued.

"McGee is going to be a McGee no longer!" He grinned as Ziva looked even more confused that before.

"Our little Timmy is going to be a Gibbs." He smiled, as she understood.

"Oh that is great news." Ziva smiled, Tim was one of her best friends and his happiness was important to her.

Tony stopped smiling and pulled a chair to sit near her. "I have some bad news too." He said

"Is Tim alright?" Ziva said suddenly worried.

"Yes. However, Gibbs pulled a notice off today, Tim's apartment building burnt down last night. Tim does not know yet. He's gonna need our support." He said.

Ziva turned to her screen, "It says here it was Arson. But they haven't caught the person responsible yet."

"I know I am going to see what I own that is double and I can give to Tim." Tony said trying to help.

"Let me tell him first." Gibbs said walking up behind Tony. "But it's a nice gesture DiNozzo."

* * *

Gibbs turned up at his house and Tim was in the kitchen laughing at something Jackson had said to him.

For a second Gibbs stood there watching his father and son laughing. It was a nice moment and Tim had not had many of those in his life. He hated the fact that he was going to have to tell Tim about his apartment, but hoped the idea he had might make things a little better.

"Hey guys, having fun?" Gibbs asked.

Tim smiled "Just been told some stories about when you were young." He said trying not to laugh. "Like your first fishing trip, where you got seasick in the boat and then fell in the lake."

"Dad!" Gibbs said laughing with the memory.

"What! It's true!" Jackson smiled. "See Tim you inherited your seasickness."

"But you never get seasick on boats?" Tim said confused.

"I put Anti Emetics in my coffee. You are sworn to secrecy, No telling DiNozzo." Gibbs smiled.

Tim nodded and looked at his watch, "We have to go my appointment is soon."

"OK. Can you meet me in the car; I just have to sort something out." Gibbs asked.

Tim went and sat in the car while Gibbs informed Jackson of what had happened to Tim's apartment and what he had thought of doing.

"Well there is definitely enough room for it; I just hope Tim goes for the idea." Jackson said.

"I'm going to talk to him about it after he is cleared for work by his doctor." Gibbs said and headed out.

* * *

The doctors' appointment passed without a hitch and Tim was pleased when he was told he could go back to work. His ribs were nearly healed so a week of desk duty was in order. Then he could go back out in the field.

As they got back into the car, Gibbs stopped and turned to Tim.

"I need to tell you something." He said.

"Have I done something wrong?" Tim asked worried.

"No, I had message this morning, there was a fire in your apartment block." Gibbs said.

"Was anyone hurt?" Tim asked.

"No, everyone is ok. Apparently the smoke detectors you paid for worked fine and everyone got out."

"But the building has been condemned. Everyone is being moved out and the building demolished," Gibbs told him.

"I'm homeless." Tim said quietly.

"No!" Gibbs protested. "No while I have a home." He saw the look on Tim's face and his heart ached for his son.

"I've had an idea; I hope you'll like it." Gibbs said, "I have some land at the end of the garden, there is enough room for me to build you a house. I understand if you don't want it but it would be close enough for you to be independent but near enough that we can be close, if you'd like." He waited hoping Tim would not freak out at the idea.

"That would be great Dad, Can I help?" Tim asked pleased his dad would go to such lengths for him.

"Sure, son." Gibbs smiled. "Let's go and work on some plans."

 


	18. 18

Vance stood in front of Tim's desk.

"Very well Agent Gibbs," he said looking at Gibbs. "If you would like to present Agent Gibbs….mark 2, with his new credentials." Vance grinned.

He was pleased for Tim but did wonder how this was going to work; the confusion alone was going to make things interesting.

"GIBBY!" Abby yelled running up and hugging him

"What?" Tim said confused.

"Well," Abby explained smiling, "He's Gibbs the original…the one and only. And you're Gibby."

"Gibby? Really Abby." Tim said, still confused.

"Yes….See it's Timmy Gibbs shortened Gibby!" She squealed.

"That'll work." Vance smiled and walked off chuckling to himself. Some days he loved his job.

Tim looked at his new credentials. It had been a week since his name change had become legal and Gibbs had thrown a barbeque in the back garden; which had turned into an unofficial ground breaking for Tim's new house as the zoning code had been granted only days before.

The team was stronger than ever and Tim was settling in living with his dad, there were a few teething problems, like Tim writing until the early hours of the morning, which did not really bother Gibbs, but the shredder drove him crazy. They compromised, Tim had a waste paper box in his room and he shredded the paper at the weekend.

Tim smiled looking at his new credentials and put them in the drawer with his gun.

"Gonna need those son, Gear up!" Gibbs said.

They all grabbed there gear and headed for the elevator.

"What we got boss?" Tim asked.

"Not sure Tim. We had a call a naval officer had been found dead in a car in Anacostia. Gas up the truck."

Tim nodded "On it!" He said and the elevator doors shut.

Vance smiled so far it looked like the team dynamic was not going to change. Maybe everything would be ok.

* * *

They pulled up at the crime scene and got out of the van.

Gibbs walked up to the tape.

"Agent Gibbs," He said and waited for the lead detective to walk over to him.

"Agent Gibbs, I'm detective Johnson. We came across the car this morning, fingerprints just came back apparently he's one of yours."

Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "Who is it?"

"An ex Admiral, Shane McGee, has a rap sheet a mile long, was on bail from you guys." Detective Johnson said.

Gibbs looked up "TIM!" He yelled as he saw Tim with the camera heading towards the car. "DiNozzo, STOP HIM!" Gibbs yelled running towards his son.

The detective ran behind him.

However, Tim had already reached the car and turned towards the body with a camera in his hand. He looked through the lens and started shaking.

"D…...dad?" He said and dropped the camera. Tony caught it and turned Tim away realizing who was in the car.

"God, Tim." Tony said.

"DiNozzo, you take the car, David, bag and tag. Get the evidence back to Abby," Gibbs said and steered Tim away.

* * *

"What's wrong?" Detective Johnson asked.

"Dad…Is he dead?" Tim was shaking so much that Gibbs sat him down.

"Yes son," Gibbs said and was shocked as Tim burst into tears.

"Is he related to the victim?" The detective asked, but was then confused by the smile Tim gave.

"Dad….He's dead….it's finally over, I'm free…" Then his face fell, "Oh God…Sarah, I'll have to let her know."

"We will don't worry." Gibbs reassured his son. "Go sit in the car."

Tim slumped towards the car as Gibbs turned to the detective, "McGee had been abusing and blackmailing my son since he was born. He's just relieved."

The detective looked at Gibbs concerned, "And you knew?"

"Not till recently, but it's all ok now… Do we know how he died?"

"Murdered, it looks like his throat was cut from behind, he most likely knew his killer." The detective stated.

Gibbs walked over to Ducky who had arrived with Jimmy.

"Time of death Duck?" Gibbs asked.

"About an hour ago." Ducky said, "Jethro isn't this…."

"Yeah, Duck. Tim's in the car."

"No he's not….I just walked past it." Jimmy said.

Gibbs turned around and ran past the detective towards the car.

"TIM!" He yelled.

When he got to the car there was no one there. "DiNozzo!" Gibbs yelled and Tony ran up.

"Boss?" He asked.

"Tim's gone." Gibbs said his gut starting to go crazy.

Tony looked around, "You sure he didn't just walk somewhere?"

"Find him." Gibbs said.

* * *

Tim had sat in the car and taken out his cell phone.

"Sarah, its Tim." He said. He heard Sarah start to panic,

"Tim, I'm not allowed to talk to you; Dad went crazy he'll…."

"It's ok, Sarah…I'm sorry, and we just found the Admiral in Anacostia. He's dead Sarah."

Sarah sobbed, Tim was about to comfort her when he felt a knife at his throat.

"Hang up," Shane McGee's voice whispered in his ear. Tim shut the phone.

"You killed your own twin brother?" Tim asked.

"Shut up and get out of the car." Shane ordered, pulling a gun for extra emphasis.

* * *

As they got out Tim looked desperately towards Gibbs who was deep in conversation with the detective. As they got into Tom's truck, he saw a glimpse of Ducky and Jimmy's van coming as they drove off in the other direction. Tim's faint hope was that they had seen him and were telling Gibbs now.

"Tom paid already for selling me out, now it's your turn. You will remove every trace of me and build me a new identity." Shane snarled at him.

"Isn't that a bit redundant Admiral, I'll still be able to tell people who you are." Tim said driving the truck and following the quiet instructions on the Sat Nav.

"Not really, as soon as your usefulness ends…..so do you." Shane said.

"But you killed Tom and left him to take your place, don't you think when Ducky takes your fingerprints they will know it's you?" Tim pushed.

"Eventually, I had false fingerprints glued onto Tom's body. By the time that old duffer figures out what's happened and they run the fingerprints I will be long gone and you'll be with your mother." Shane grinned as Tim shuddered.

"I saw you, putting me away and going to live a cushy life. You don't deserve it." Shane snarled. "Even after I burned down your apartment block, you still managed to fall on your feet, it's not fair!"

Tim knew Ducky was smarter than Shane thought and hoped that he and Abby could figure it out fast. Reaching while Shane was not looking he speed dialed Gibbs and put the phone in his pocket. However, Shane saw him, "DON'T TRY THAT AGAIN BOY!" he yelled. Closing the phone to cut the call and throwing it in the back of the car.

Tim pulled the car over at a derelict looking farmhouse.

Shane pointed the gun at him again. "Get out!" he snarled.

"Please Sir, just let me go, I'll tell them you got away!" Tim pleaded.

"INSIDE!" Shane snapped and pushed Tim up the steps.

Tim stumbled up the top step but Shane grabbed him by the collar, dragged him inside, and pushed him towards a desk containing a computer, printer and everything Tim needed to create a false identity for the Admiral.

"SIT." Shane ordered.

Tim sat and started removing all trace of Shane McGee from every database he could find.

"And the NCIS database and don't forget the pentagon." Shane snarled.

"I…I can't, I promised I can't hack them!" Tim shook.

Shane backhanded Tim and he fell from the chair. "That's a warning. DO IT!"

Tim gulped and started typing.

 


	19. 19

Tim started typing as Shane looked disinterestedly on; he knew the boy was too scared of him to pull anything so that was not a problem. He wanted to keep an eye out of the window to make sure no one had followed them up to the house after Tim's little stunt with the phone.

Tim looked at Shane, and relaxed realizing he was not paying much attention to him, He knew he could not run, Shane would have no qualms in shooting him. So he did what he did best… he hacked.

He hacked Shane McGee's records at NCIS, tripping every marker he had placed in the NCIS system while working for cybercrimes against hackers, he also tripped the systems the FBI and SecNav had had put in place to stop him hacking without a directors password. He knew right about now red flags would be going up all over NCIS.

* * *

Gibbs stormed into Abby's lab, "Anything? Have you traced his phone Abbs?" He asked.

"It's switched off we don't have any…" She cut off as alarms started blaring through her lab.

"ABBY!" Gibbs called above the din.

Abby grinned from ear to ear "It's Gibby...er Tim!" She smiled.

"What is?" Gibbs was still shouting and he motioned Abby to turn the alarms off.

She turned them off and turned around as Vance entered her lab. "Gibbs did you allow Tim to hack the NCIS database?"

"No, he's missing." Gibbs said and turned back to Abby, "Can you use whatever he's doing to track him down?"

Abby nodded already on it, "He's at a small farm house off Floral Park road."

"Thanks Abbs," Gibbs said gave her a peck on the cheek and left.

* * *

Gibbs jumped in his car and with Tony and Ziva following, headed towards the area Abby said Tim was.

They stopped at the perimeter of the farmhouse.

"Boss?" Tony asked having jumped in the car and followed Gibbs but having no idea why they were there.

"Tim set off some kind of alarm on the computers at NCIS, Abby gave me the address, and he's in there with whoever took him." Gibbs explained.

Tony turned to start walking in there and Gibbs grabbed his arm.

"Hang on Tony," Gibbs said and his phone rang.

"Gibbs….OK….Thank Abbs." He hung up.

"Abby commandeered an infra-red satellite and just got back with the results. Tim is in there with someone else. But there are just two of them."

"Ok. Tony you're with me, Ziva you watch the back… and Ziva….If anyone tries to get past you don't kill them, I want them alive!" Gibbs growled.

* * *

Shane picked up a small wooden box from a shelf as Tim printed out his new documents. Tim looked up at Shane and suppressed a shudder. Internally he was hoping his dad was not very far away. Had he tripped enough markers to set off the alarm he and Abby had installed the week before? This was the first time he had put all his faith in Gibbs as his father and really hoped that he would keep his promise and be there for him.

"You did good boy, I'm proud of you." Shane said.

Tim looked up confused.

It was what he had waited all his life for the Admiral to say to him. So why did he feel so uneasy.

"Bye Tim." Shane said and Tim felt a sharp pain in his neck. His eyes opened wide in horror and his hand flew up and pulled the syringe out of his neck.

"What?" Tim gasped as Shane stepped back with a sneer on his face.

"All my loose ends are done now. Go join your mother." Shane spat and turned to leave.

Tim started to run after him, as all hell broke loose.

Gibbs kicked the door in "NCIS FREEZE!" He yelled.

Tim pulled up short as Gibbs pointed the gun at Shane.

"Tom McGee, you're under arrest." He said.

"No! It's Shane." Tim said and took two more steps and fell to the ground.

"Tim!" Gibbs called distraught at the sight of his sons' unconscious body.

Tony took Shane to the car and put him in the back as he called for the paramedics.

Ziva walked in to see Gibbs holding Tims' head and checking his pulse to see if he was still alive.

Gibbs looked up a lone tear escaped as he tried desperately to hold it together.

"Help me." He said looking up at her.

She picked up the syringe, saw the bottle on the shelf and lifted it to the light. "Ketamine, it's an animal tranquilizer."

"Can it kill?" Gibbs asked, although he knew the answer he could not think straight.

"In a strong enough dose….yes," Ziva said quietly.

* * *

Sitting in the waiting room at Bethesda the group of people waited. Tony and Ziva sat talking quietly together, Jimmy and Abby were sitting watching people out of the window while Ducky walked between them. Gibbs sat alone in the corner, he had called Jackson to inform him of what had happened and then just sat down. Snapping at anyone who came near if they were not a doctor or nurse. As the hours ticked on, he became increasingly worse.

"Family of Timothy Gibbs?" A tired looking doctor in scrubs said.

Gibbs shot up "Is he ok?" he asked.

"We did what we could; it's up to him now. He is still unconscious the next few hours are going to be critical." The doctor noticed the badge, "If your Agent has any family I suggest you call them." He said gravely.

"I'm his father." Gibbs said, "Please… I need to see my son…for myself, just to know he's ok."

The doctor nodded, "It will take us five minutes to get him settled and then you can see him."

Gibbs let out a huge sigh of relief. If only he could be there, he knew Tim would be fine. He had spent the last few hours praying to every Deity he had ever heard of and Shannon and Kelly too. Tim could not die.

Vance walked into the waiting room just as the doctor left.

"Gibbs how is he?" He asked.

"Still touch and go Leon, why are you here?" Not that he was not pleased to see him. However, something in Vance's timing made his gut ache.

"SecNav found out about Tim's hacking and is kicking up a huge stink over it, I need your report so I can sort it out, and verbal will do if you have time. I'm sorry Jethro, I know my timing is bad, but I need to forestall him if possible before he does any damage to Agent Gibbs' career."

Gibbs nodded curtly.

"Did you at anytime authorize Agent Timothy Gibbs to access the NCIS database by hacking his way past our firewalls?" Vance asked.

"No." Gibbs said wearily

Vance nodded, "So for the record, you did authorize Agent Gibbs to, if in danger use any and all means possible to help us locate him and the criminal that had taken him hostage. Leading to the subsequent arrest of Admiral Shane McGee, who had murdered his twin brother and had assumed a false identity to evade trial for an earlier crime he was on bail for."

"I..." Gibbs said stunned

"Thank you Senior Agent Gibbs." Vance smiled. "Now go take care of your boy, I will keep you apprised of the investigation, but seeing as it was authorized I cannot see there being any problem."

Vance left and Ducky lead Gibbs to Tim's room.

 


	20. 20

It was dark in Tim's room and to Gibbs; his son looked incredibly small lying on the hospital bed.

"Duck, is he going to be ok?" He asked a touch of fear creeping into his voice.

"I hope so Jethro, Young Timothy is very strong. The doctors here have done the best they can and he does have your stubborn streak so his chances are very good." Ducky told him looking on kindly as Gibbs slumped into a chair beside Tim's bed.

"God I hope so." Gibbs breathed grasping Tim's hand.

* * *

Tim's first thought was that he was still with Shane McGee in the farmhouse. He vaguely remembered Gibbs kicking the door down and pointing a gun at Shane, but Tim thought that maybe that was too good to be true. Besides, he hurt. Surely if he were in hospital, he would not hurt so much.

He decided it was safer if he just lay there for a while. If he opened his eyes and it was his dad, well that would be great. However, being honest with himself, Tim had to admit he was too scared. On the other hand, worse maybe, the whole thing had been a dream, even NCIS and having a different, kinder real father had been a dream and he was still a teenager locked in the basement waiting for the Admiral to go back on deployment so his mother could let him out.

In his subconscious, Tim could hear the Admiral screaming at his mother for letting Tim have what the Admiral called 'smart books'.

"The boy is useless Evie; I won't have you spending any of my money on him. He wants those books and an education make him go out and earn it. He is stubborn and stupid, like a marine!" The Admiral spat.

"Please, Shane." Evie pleaded followed by the sound of someone being hit.

"He stays there in the basement with the junk where he belongs." Came Shane's voice as Evie could be heard crying long after his heavy footprints had stomped away.

* * *

Tim felt a hand on his shoulder and he flinched.

"No, please…" He mumbled. He felt sluggish and strange; maybe the Admiral had drugged him.

Then it hit him, The Admiral HAD drugged him. He was WITH the Admiral.

He frantically scrambled to get away from the hands that now gripped him by the arms, screaming, begging he'd be good and promising not to tell he tried twisting away from the hands he thought were going to hurt him.

Gibbs leaned stunned against the wall as Tony helped support him as they both watched two doctors and three orderlies try to calm Tim down as he begged and pleaded for his life.

"Please, Sir….No….I'll be good, I won't tell!" Tim screamed.

Finally, Gibbs could not stand it anymore. He pushed past the orderlies and grabbed Tim in a hug.

"It's ok Tim, It's dad, you're safe…..Shh!" he said repeatedly rocking his son in his arms.

Tim sobbed still not awake.

Slowly he calmed down and opened his eyes to find his dad sat on the bed holding him.

"Dad?" Tim questioned.

"It's ok son, I'm here, it's all over." Gibbs said softly.

"You got him?" Tim asked

"We got him probie; he's behind bars and looking at some serious jail time." Tony said smiling.

Tim relaxed. "What happened?" He asked, looking around, "Why am I in hospital?"

"McGee shot ya up with horse tranquilizer." Gibbs growled.

Tim nodded, "Aint the first time," He said to himself, but Gibbs heard him.

"What do you mean son?" He asked gently.

"When he had his Navy friends around and wanted me quiet as a kid he used to dose me up with it and leave me in the basement." Tim said, as if it were the sort of thing, which parents did to their kids.

Gibbs tensed and Tony made a mental note to make sure he looked the other way if Gibbs and McGee ended up in the same room together.

Tim lay back and closed his eyes, "I'll be fine, just gotta sleep it off is all." He said drowsily.

* * *

Shane McGee sat in the holding cell at NCIS, pleased with himself, granted he had been caught but at least the boy was out of his life for good.

He had been in the holding cell for three days and from the way people there were treating him, Tim must be dead.

Ziva walked in and opened the cell door, "UP." She snapped,

McGee got up and followed her to interrogation, "You gonna work me over girly," He said with a sneer.

Ziva smiled and Shane McGee couldn't help but shudder, "You'll wish I had by the time he's finished with you." She said.

The door opened and Gibbs and Tony sat in interrogation. Tony motioned for McGee to sit. Gibbs did not acknowledge him at all.

Shane sat down, "Didn't expect you to be here," He sneered at Gibbs, "Aint ya burying the boy. Or did ya just trash his ass."

Gibbs did not take the bait, but Tony saw the slight tightening of the jaw.

Finally, Gibbs looked up and smiled.

"Your being charged with the attempted murder of a federal agent. Also the hacking of the NCIS database and attempted falsifying of information."

"You can't pin that on me." Shane sneered, "Your boy did that,"

The door opened and a voice made Shane jump. "No I didn't, I just made you think I did. You lost Admiral, and you're going down for it." Tim said flatly.

Shane got up to lunge at Tim but found himself blocked by both Gibbs and Tony.

"You are never going to get near him again." Tony promised.

"Bye Admiral, enjoy prison." Tim said and allowed himself a small smile.

The last thing he ever heard from Shane McGee was him, howling in rage as the door closed.

* * *

Tim caught up with Gibbs at the elevator.

"Thanks Dad." He said sincerely, he had needed that closure and although it was not allowed Gibbs had talked to Vance who had held on to Shane McGee just long enough so that that little encounter could take place.

As they entered the elevator, they were joined by Abby and Jackie Vance who had come over to visit Abby, as they were friends and Abby had filled her in on what had happened and on what Vance had done for Tim while he was in the hospital. She was still teared up at the generosity her husband had shown. She had always known he was a fair man, but after hearing some of what Tim had gone through and what Vance had put on the line for him, she loved her husband more than ever.

"TIM!" Jackie said and enveloped him in a hug.

"Mrs. Vance?" Tim said confused, wincing a bit as she hugged him as he was still bruised.

"I'm so pleased you're safe." She cried.

The elevator opened on the directors' level and Leon caught sight of his wife in Tim Gibbs' arms crying for all she was worth.

"Agent Gibbs!" Leon said surprised and with a slight smile as both Agents jumped.

Jackie let go of Tim and ran to her husband. "Leon, I'm so proud of you." She said and kissed him, long and hard.

Leon finally put his wife down and looked around at the agents on the floor below staring open mouthed at their boss.

"Do I pay you to all stand around? Back to work!" Leon barked with a lopsided smile. Then he caught sight of DiNozzo grinning and gave him an especially pointed stare.

"Aww. True Love!" DiNozzo quipped and then yelped as Gibbs headslapped him.

"Thanks boss… Tim?" He said as he realized that it was the younger Gibbs that had just headslapped him.

The elder Gibbs smirked as he entered the bullpen.

"Ya gotta deal with two of us now DiNozzo." He said. Tony could not help but smile.

His family was back together.

He watched as Tim shot a smile at his dad and sat at his desk.

Gibbs looked satisfied as he looked at all his kids in the bullpen settling down. He picked up his phone and listened.

"Gear up!"

 


End file.
